Submission on the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill

Our submission supports the changes proposed in this Bill, given that if implemented in ways that are consistent with respecting and fulfilling children’s rights, they should help to ensure greater safety of mokopuna in the care and protection and youth justice system.

We advocate for the lived experience and voices of mokopuna who are within or have been in this system to inform and guide every step of how the Bill’s provisions are implemented in practice. We are very concerned that survivors of abuse in care, and care-experienced mokopuna have not been adequately consulted in the development of this Bill. Their voices should have been central to guiding its development.

Mana Mokopuna supports efforts to improve protections for mokopuna and ensure safe, respectful environments that honour their rights and dignity, including when they are in secure residences and other environments when they are in the care of the State. However, we advocate for a children’s rights approach to be taken in the development of the Bill and implementation of the proposed changes.