Oranga Tamariki - Good Buggers
The Year They Chose Kindness
It was 2024, and for once, something astonishing happened in Wellington.
Instead of brandishing a spreadsheet and calling it policy, the government paused. Listened. Thought.
Faced with fiscal pressures, the Ministry for Children, Oranga Tamariki, was given a challenge, not a directive, to examine how it might operate more effectively while safeguarding the wellbeing of the children it served. Radical concept - saving money without sacrificing humanity.
So they tried something new - asking questions before swinging axes.
They brought in not consultants but communities. They hosted 60 hui across Aotearoa, sitting in dusty marae halls and church kitchens, listening to those who knew the names of the children, not just their case numbers. There were tears. Laughter. Biscuits. Insight.
They didn’t just send out stern letters demanding the return of unspent funds. Instead, they asked, “What do you need to succeed?” A shocking approach, really. Almost like they cared.
One senior OT official, previously known for their love of KPIs and clipboards, reportedly had a full-blown epiphany after a visit to a transitional housing unit in Porirua. “I realised,” they said quietly, “children don’t thrive in bullet points.”
Instead of blanket cuts, the Ministry introduced a Collaborative Budgeting Framework—co-designed with iwi, community providers, and whānau. Some contracts were reshaped, yes, but none were dropped off the funding cliff at midnight without warning. Every decision came with a human impact statement and a face-to-face conversation.
Oranga Tamariki also invested in its own staff. Rather than gutting its community partnership teams, it upskilled them, turning bureaucrats into bridge-builders. Turnover plummeted. Morale soared. One public servant was seen smiling unironically. Another reportedly used the word “hope” in a strategy meeting and wasn’t laughed out of the room.
Minister Karen Chhour took a bold stance - publicly stating that the wellbeing of children was not up for auction. “Let’s be honest,” she said on RNZ, “you don’t protect tamariki by dismantling the scaffolding holding them up.”
Even Treasury played along. In a brief but miraculous lapse in soullessness, they acknowledged that the cost of trauma and institutional failure often outweighs the upfront price of prevention. They published a report titled “Invest Now, or Pay in Generational Damage Later.”
And the outcome?
No child lost their trusted support worker mid-care.
No youth service shut its doors without a transition plan.
No frontline worker was told to do twice the job with half the resource and a smile.
In fact, the approach yielded modest savings and sparked greater innovation. A Whanganui trust developed a mobile tamariki outreach van that blended social work with kapa haka. A Christchurch home partnered with a local tech firm to help kids learn coding and confidence. Seeds planted, futures changed.
And the public? They noticed.
For once, the headlines weren’t about failures. They were about dignity. For a brief, luminous year, New Zealand remembered that governance could be a service, not a sword.
And though some grumbled about “woke spending” and “soft politics,” most saw what was truly happening - a country choosing care over cruelty. Decency over dashboards. Tamariki over targets.
It didn’t solve every problem. But it proved something - when government chooses humanity first, everything else follows.
🟢 GOVERNMENT PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
“Putting People First: New Social Investment Strategy Strengthens Tamariki Support”
The Government today confirmed the successful implementation of a community-led, values-based funding transition within Oranga Tamariki. Rather than blunt austerity, the Ministry embraced a kaupapa Māori, whānau-first approach to budget realignment, setting a new benchmark in compassionate governance.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour praised the shift -
“We didn’t just ask what could be cut. We asked what must be protected. That started with our children.”
Over 60 regional hui informed the redesign, co-developed with iwi, frontline providers, and lived-experience experts. The new Collaborative Budgeting Framework (CBF) has enabled both fiscal responsibility and stronger outcomes, without disrupting vital relationships or community trust.
Early results include:
100% service continuity for tamariki care programmes
17 new regionally tailored partnerships funded
12% improved client stability metrics year-on-year
Treasury Secretary Marama Jones noted -
“It’s a myth that social care and economic prudence are in conflict. This model delivers both.”
Oranga Tamariki CEO Reuben Taipari added:
“We’ve proved that manaaki and metrics can coexist. You just have to care enough to try.”
The CBF will now be extended across other social services as part of Budget 2026. This approach, officials say, reflects a maturing public service culture, one that no longer sees people as costs, but as citizens.
ENDS
📩 LETTER TO THE EDITOR – FROM A GRATEFUL ORGANISATION
To the Editor,
Last year, we braced for the worst. We’d seen what happened to other services under previous cuts - doors closed, kids displaced, trust shattered. We expected more of the same.
But what happened instead shocked us.
Oranga Tamariki didn’t send a termination notice. They sent an invitation. An actual human being came to our office. We talked. We cried. We redesigned a new contract together that kept the tamariki at the centre of every dollar.
We didn’t lose staff, we gained a partnership. We didn’t shut down, we extended our reach and most importantly, our kids, the ones we’d worked years to protect, didn’t fall through the cracks. They thrived.
One of our rangatahi, once considered too traumatised to engage, now co-leads a peer support group. That wouldn’t have happened under an algorithm.
This is what it looks like when a government chooses decency over dogma. Whoever made that decision - thank you. Please keep choosing it.
Nāku iti nei,
Teuila Ropata
Director, Whakaruru Youth Whānau Trust
📬 LETTER TO THE EDITOR – FROM A BENEFITTING INDIVIDUAL
Dear Editor,
Before last year, I was in care. Again. I'd already had five placements by the time I was 15. Then I got placed somewhere different, not because the old place ran out of funding, but because someone chose to invest in something better.
That place changed my life.
It wasn’t perfect, but the people stayed. The programmes didn’t shut down halfway. I got to keep seeing the same mentor every week. I got help with my NCEA. I’m even applying for a course at WelTec next year.
I know I’m just one story. But I think there are hundreds like mine now. Thousands, maybe.
So to the people who didn’t take the easy option, who didn’t throw us under the bus for the Budget - thank you. You gave me back a sense of future.
To the rest of New Zealand, please keep holding them to this standard. Don’t let us go back.
Sincerely,
Malachi R. (17)
Lower Hutt