Transition to adulthood — Maintaining contact

Ngākau whakairo

How will I ensure that I uphold the right of the rangatahi to determine the frequency and nature of the contact they have with me?

Ngākau whakairo practice framework domain

Whai mātauranga

How will I use my knowledge of the lived experience of the rangatahi to build and maintain a strong and supportive relationship with them?

Whai mātauranga practice framework domain

Whai oranga

How will I ensure that my contact and relationship with the rangatahi considers and is supportive of their significant relationships with members of their family, whānau, hapū and iwi or family group and the advice and assistance that they receive from them?

Whai oranga practice framework domain

Whai pūkenga

How can my communication with the rangatahi promote their comfort and confidence about becoming more independent?

Whai pūkenga practice framework domain

Whai ākona

How do my experiences of the support I received, or didn’t receive, from the people important to me influence the way I relate to rangatahi during this period of their life journey?

Whai ākona practice framework domain

In these situations it becomes our responsibility to maintain contact with eligible rangatahi who have left care or a youth justice residential placement until they reach 21 years old.

The transition worker must be someone with suitable qualifications or experience for the role, such as a social worker or youth worker.

Eligibility tree (PDF 129 KB)

Eligibility tree — interactive (PDF 1.4 MB)

For rangatahi on a Supervision with Residence youth justice order, this must be linked to early release decision-making.

You must consider:

• what level of contact rangatahi wants
• the needs of rangatahi
• the age and maturity of rangatahi.

You must talk to rangatahi to identify their wishes about the level of contact, before changes in frequency or forms of contact occur.

Sharing information about tamariki and rangatahi

Consideration must be given to:

• rangatahi willingness that contact continues to be made with them
• rangatahi preferences in how contact occurs
• what support people rangatahi wants to be involved and how
• where rangatahi wishes face-to-face contact to occur
• rangatahi communication needs and how information is presented.

Face-to-face contact should be your primary form of contact — provided rangatahi agree.

Staff must only use a Facebook Messenger account set up in their own name for work purposes.

You must not:

• communicate using other social media accounts such as Twitter, Snapchat, Instagram, or Facebook profiles, pages or groups
• use fake accounts.

You must record:

• how contact will be maintained and the agreed frequency of contact
• attempts to make contact, even if contact is not established
• key information about what was discussed when contact is made.

You should aim to meet them face-to-face at least once every 2 weeks unless you believe this isn’t appropriate after taking into account their needs and wishes. If less frequent contact or contact in another form is considered more appropriate, the reasons for this must be recorded in their plan and on CYRAS.

Maintaining contact

You must record any request not to be contacted and the efforts you have made to find a means and frequency of contact that works for rangatahi.

If you have the means to do so, you must at a minimum send rangatahi reminders that they can resume contact at any time. This should be done using a non-intrusive means, such as email or text. Rangatahi are under no obligation to respond to these reminders.

You must resume maintaining contact with rangatahi at a later time if they want to, even if they had earlier requested no further contact.

Maintaining contact