Adopted Samoan children and young people who are being harmed

The ICPU can provide advice and help request information from partner agencies, including Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, Department of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Social Development, Ministry of Education and NZ Police. These agencies can provide the following information:

• correct legal name, citizenship and birth registration of the child or young person
• legal parental status resulting from the adoption (legal guardian)
• date of the adoption
• date of arrival in New Zealand or travel movements across the New Zealand border
• benefit claims, confirmation of current address and caregiver
• if the adoptive parents have adopted other children or young people and whether they are processing new adoption applications
• confirmation of whether passports are active or expired.

Children and young people are often afraid or made to feel obligated towards the adoptive parents despite the harm they are experiencing. In these situations, children and young people often minimise or won’t disclose the risks and concerns when speaking to others.

We need to ensure the child or young person feels safe when we explore the following with them:

• their life journey, starting from when they lived in Samoa, then moving to their current situation in New Zealand
• their current relationship and contact with their biological aiga or family in Samoa
• if they’re treated differently in the adoptive home – this can include an inferior level of care and living circumstances compared with any biological children of the adoptive parents
• domestic arrangements and routines, division of responsibilities, chores, social activities and where they sleep
• if they’re in some type of paid employment:
  • their work schedule and the hours they work, including what hours of the day
  • their work conditions
  • their access to the money they earn
• if the young person has ever been required or coerced into signing a document for a loan that they have to pay off on behalf of the adoptive parents
• if they have access to their passport or birth certificate or a bank account or bank card.

The birth parents do not have any legal rights to make decisions for the adopted child or young person. However, the Oranga Tamariki Act considers them to be significant family members to the child or young person and they must be included in any family group conference.

• Explore contact with biological parents, aiga or family in Samoa.
• The adoptive parents may also contact the biological parents when Oranga Tamariki becomes involved. Be aware of how the biological aiga or family are influenced by the position, status or narrative of the adoptive parents.
• Talk to the biological parents about the extent and nature of contact they have with their child or young person.
• Work with the biological aiga or family to identify relatives in New Zealand who they believe can provide support for the child or young person.
• Explore the health needs of the child or young person.

Adoptive parents will likely be defensive and/or angry about the involvement of Oranga Tamariki. We need to cover:

• the nature and history of the adoptive parent’s relationship – financial support can be an effective way to maintain a position of power in the adoption arrangement
• their views or aspirations about the adopted child or young person’s future
• any other children or young people they may have adopted and the current situation for those children or young people
• any pattern of harm and exploitation of children or young people through the adoption process
• potential support networks among adopted young people who have left the adoptive family to live independently.

Always take seriously any threats by adoptive parents to return an adopted child or young person back to Samoa.

Consult with Legal, site leadership and the ICPU regarding legal guardianship matters for the adopted child or young person.

• If we are unable to locate the biological family of the adopted child or young person, we seek support from a cultural advisor and the ICPU. 
• Consider how to support biological aiga or family members’ participation in ways that make them feel safe and free from duress.

Care and protection family group conference

If the family group conference decides to repatriate the child or young person back to their birth aiga or family in Samoa, we assess if this is viable.

Policy: When children and young people move (including overseas)

If the family group conference considers a permanent care arrangement for the child or young person in New Zealand away from the adoptive parents, we:

• consult with Legal, site leadership and the ICPU
• provide advice to the caregivers about options to get financial support through either the Unsupported Child's Benefit or Youth Payment.
  Unsupported Child's Benefit
  Youth Payment | Work and Income

For the repatriation or overseas care arrangement for an adopted child or young person (under court orders or other forms of intervention):

• International repatriation memo to be completed for overseas placement that requires the chief executive’s approval.
• The overseas care arrangements policy requires us to ensure that the young person’s immigration status allows them to travel to New Zealand and back to their home country. (Some children or young people hold a New Zealand residence visa, which expires 2 years after the arrival date. If the child or young person remains outside of New Zealand for 2 or more years, the residence visa becomes voided unless they hold a New Zealand permanent visa.)
• If a decision is made that the child or young person is to be returned to their biological parent’s care in Samoa, the social worker holds a consult between the site’s senior leadership, Legal and the ICPU.
• We follow the policy informing overseas care arrangements. Because of the adoption order, birth parents do not have any legal right to care for their child or young person unless the adoption is revoked in the Samoa Family Court.
• The New Zealand Family Court needs to be advised that this pathway is subject to a favourable assessment carried out by the Samoa Ministry for Women, Social and Community Development. Contact the ICPU to support this.
• If the adopted child or young person is a New Zealand citizen, they will require a Samoan exemption stamp in their passport that will allow them to remain in Samoa indefinitely or travel to Samoa on a one-way ticket. Contact the Samoa High Commission for an exemption application and costs, or consult with the ICPU for guidance.

• New Zealand Family Court applications for adopted Samoan children or young people need to highlight that there is no assessment of the suitability of the Samoan adoptive parents.
• The views of the biological parents, and information about them, should inform any court proceedings in New Zealand for children or young people adopted from Samoa.
• It is important that Oranga Tamariki holds some form of guardianship order to support the discharge of the adoption order for the child or young person by their birth parents in the Samoa Family Court. Contact the ICPU regarding the process to revoke an adoption in Samoa.
• Oranga Tamariki may need to engage the services of a lawyer in Samoa to help the biological parents file for custody and guardianship. Specific approval is required – the ICPU can help with the process.
• Orders made in the New Zealand Family Court do not have any extraterritorial effect. This means that any court orders that the child or young person is under in New Zealand will have no effect in Samoa.