Kerre Woodham: Children should not be in emergency motels

Look, we're not much into the year, are we?

I suppose we're almost at the end of January. But there's another awful story about emergency housing about motels and the people being sequestered away in motels because authorities say there is nowhere else for them to go. In this case it is young people. It absolutely beggars belief that Oranga Tamariki can consider motel accommodation the best option for at risk young people, yet that's what they told analysts from the New Zealand Herald whose story is in the paper today.

A young person in state care lived in a motel for nearly two years until suitable accommodation could be found. Other young people have spent more than 100 and 200 nights living in motels across the country. Oranga Tamariki said that while most motel placements were for one to three nights, 14 young people spent more than 100 nights, of those seven spent more than 200 nights. And what stunned me is that Oranga Tamariki tried to justify the use of these emergency motels. They're quoted as saying we work hard to ensure that the young people experience consistency of accommodation and staff and are able to access education and spend regular quality time with whanau and people who are important to them.

At the emergency motels. Some young people, said Oranga Tamariki, enjoy and are able to take part in cooking, tidying and some cleaning. This will always be supported by the carers who are with the young people. Depending on the young person, a range of options could be used to supervise them, including security guards outside motel rooms for the highest risk cases.

It makes you want to weep.

What chance do these kids have? If any at all? You've seen the sort of motels that are being used for emergency accommodation. You've seen this state of them. In what universe does Oranga Tamariki imagine that the young people in these motels are going to enjoy taking part in cooking, tidying and some cleaning?  They're describing some bucolic paradise where the children with an apron around their waists are in a farmhouse, while a rosy cheeked carer helps them turn out perfect scones and a whacking roast for the entire family?

I mean, come on.

How can they possibly justify it? In 2019, then Children's Commissioner Judge Andrew Beecroft. demanded Oranga Tamariki stop using motel rooms. That's how long they've been around. But OT says that while motels are not preferred, they're often the only option for children in care. How have we come to this? I get that it's very difficult to place difficult children. I get that. There are children who have multiple issues that would be very, very difficult to place, but to justify their use of motels as the only possible option and then try to paint some idyllic day-to-day activity that these children are supposed to be involved with.

We've seen the state of those motels. We know what they look like. Children should not be there. At risk children should not be there. I don't care who changes this. Who makes this better. I don't care what party of what colour changes it, but it has to stop. It has to stop now. 

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