Intake and early assessment

Updates made to this guidance

Changes have been made to a number of pages on the Practice Centre to align with the practice approach. Specific changes include:

• Tiaki Oranga replaces the safety and risk screen, and is now being used throughout the life of a case, across service lines whenever we need to understand current safety.
• All references to the Tuituia domains and subdomains have been removed and we now promote the use of Te Puna Oranga and our models, tools and resources to build and deepen our understanding.
• The Tuituia report has been replaced with the assessment report. 

Responding to a report of concern

A report of concern is made when a member of the public or a community, a professional or whānau or family has a concern for a tamaiti or rangatahi and they share their concern with Oranga Tamariki. It is the role of Oranga Tamariki to:

• consider the concern
• determine the appropriate response for te tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family
• complete an assessment appropriate to the level of concern
• put in place the support or intervention that te tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family require if necessary.

3 phases of the assessment process

While assessment is an ongoing process, there are 3 phases of the assessment process that responds to reports of concern:

• initial assessment phase
• core assessment phase
• full assessment phase

There are key decision points across the 3 phases of assessment that determine the purpose of assessment at each phase and decision-making about whether the following phase of assessment is required. Each phase of the assessment builds and deepens our understanding to gather and analyse information to support decision-making specific to that phase of the assessment. This includes all forms of information, including visual information such as photos.

The Organising my Practice tool helps us take an organised, intentional approach to our mahi.

Organising my practice

We should build our understanding according to the:

• purpose of our involvement
• nature of the presenting issues
• unique circumstances of each tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family
• context of our engagement with them.

Practice for working effectively with Māori

For quality assessments that are effective when working with tamariki and rangatahi Māori, we must have regard to mana tamaiti (tamariki), their whakapapa and the whanaungatanga responsibilities of their whānau, hapū and iwi. As part of a suite of Māori practice resources, Te Toka Tūmoana, the Māori cultural framework and mana tamaiti practice guidance provide key resources to support your assessment.

Practice for working effectively with Māori

Working with Māori: Te Toka Tūmoana

Practice for working effectively with Pacific

For Pacific children, the Va'aifetū cultural practice framework and principles must be applied when undertaking an assessment of their needs and vulnerabilities, strengths and opportunities.

Each Pacific nation has a unique culture, identity, language and set of customs and cultural practices that are central to their identity. Using the relevant cultural framework for the child and family will support you to respond to their unique cultural reality, and enhance your engagement, understanding and response to the identified needs or concerns.

Working with Pacific peoples: Va'aifetū

Engagement is critical throughout our mahi

Effective engagement with te tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family is critical throughout our mahi, particularly during the core and full assessment phases. We work with te tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family to build and deepen our understanding of their risks, needs, strengths and challenges. Remember:

• Each whānau or family and their circumstances are different. Take time to consider what makes this whānau or family unique and how our approach with them will support effective engagement. Families and whānau are diverse and require responsive solutions and reflective social work practices.
• We involve our kairaranga ā-whānau or get specialist Māori advice to support understanding and engagement with tamariki, rangatahi and whānau Māori.
• Use cultural frameworks (Te Toka Tūmoana and Va'aifetū) and consultation to support understanding for tamariki, rangatahi and whānau Māori and Pacific children and families.
• Be sensitive to particular needs and consider whether assistance or support is required – for example, where te tamaiti or rangatahi or a whānau or family member has a disability, where English is a second language, where cultural diversity may affect engagement or where religious beliefs are significant to the assessment.

Working with Māori: Te Toka Tūmoana

Working with Pacific peoples: Va'aifetū

Practice standard: See and engage tamariki

Practice standard: See and engage whānau, wider family, caregivers and when appropriate victims of offending by tamariki

Use supervision to support and challenge practice

Supervision is a critical part of practice. Case/line supervision is the primary mechanism for ensuring effective oversight and to help us think critically about the circumstances for te tamaiti or rangatahi within the context of their whānau or family group.

Case/line supervision should provide a forum for us to:

• share and reflectively explore our developing and deepening understanding of te tamaiti or rangatahi and their whānau or family
• think about how we are making sense of complex information
• test our assumptions, and any bias influencing our assessment and decision-making.

Supervision will also support and build our effectiveness in responding to the cultural diversity of the tamariki, rangatahi and whānau or family we are working with.

Practice standard: Use professional supervision

Policy: Professional supervision

Use the child/young person and family consult to inform robust analysis and decision-making

The tool helps us structure our thinking about what we understand is happening in the whānau or family. It helps us identify and consider areas of need and danger or harm, alongside safety and strength.

The consult aims to increase oranga with a focus on safety for te tamaiti or rangatahi by using the strengths and resources of the whānau or family to address the areas of danger or harm.

Child/young person and family consult