If we determine suicide or concerning or harmful sexual behaviour, we must create a person characteristic to record this.
CYRAS handbook – Creating a Person Record (staff resource)

Page URL: https://practice.orangatamariki.govt.nz/our-work/assessment-and-planning/assessments/intake-and-early-assessment/seeking-consent-to-talk-to-tamariki-and-rangatahi/
Printed: 30/03/2025
Printed pages may be out of date. Please check this information is current before using it in your practice.

Last updated: 23/03/2025

Seeking consent to talk to tamariki and rangatahi

Wherever practicable, we seek consent from a parent or guardian when we need to talk directly with tamariki or rangatahi aged under 18 years old.

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. 

Importance of safety, oranga and relationships

For each interaction with tamariki and rangatahi, we need to consider how that interaction will:

  • support their best interests
  • support oranga, including safety
  • uphold mana by recognising the right of te tamaiti or rangatahi to participate
  • recognise and strengthen whakapapa and whanaungatanga relationships between te tamaiti or rangatahi and their siblings, whānau or family and community, which is critical for their sustained oranga, including connection and belonging.

Parents as guardians have ultimate responsibility for the care, safety and wellbeing of their tamariki and rangatahi, which includes who has access to talk to them. By seeking consent from a parent or guardian, we demonstrate in practice how we are working in partnership with them. It does, however, mean they might not agree.

There are 3 key purposes for our first meeting with a parent or guardian:

  1. To inform the parent or guardian about the concerns raised.
  2. To begin our mahi to build and deepen our understanding about the concerns raised.
  3. To seek agreement to talk directly to their tamariki or rangatahi as a critical part of building and deepening our understanding about their oranga, including safety.