Oranga Tamariki Act 1989

Introduction

You could also call this:

"Keeping Children and Young People Safe and Happy"

This law aims to help children, young people, and their families be happy and healthy. It does this by providing services that focus on children's rights and well-being, and that help them make good choices. These services also try to stop children from getting hurt or treated badly.

The law wants to support children and young people so they can grow up safely and healthily. It tries to prevent bad things from happening to them, like abuse or neglect, and helps them if something bad has already happened. The law also wants to help families take care of their children and give them a safe and loving home.

The law says that when children need care, they should have a safe and loving home as soon as possible. It also says that children should get support to help them with their needs. The law is committed to the principles of the [Treaty of Waitangi](te Tiriti o Waitangi) and recognises the importance of children's connections to their family, whānau, hapū, and iwi.

If a child or young person does something wrong, the law tries to respond in a way that helps them understand what they did and takes into account their rights and needs. The law also wants to help children and young people who have been in care to become independent adults. It provides support to help them make this transition successfully.

The law considers "assisting" to mean not just doing things for people, but also helping them develop the skills they need to do things for themselves. This means that the law tries to empower families and young people to take care of themselves and make good choices.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM147087.


Highlights from this law




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1: Title and commencement, or

"What the law is called and when it started"

Oranga Tamariki Act 1989

Reprint as at:
2025-04-08
Assent:
1989-05-27
Commencement:
see section 1(2)

The Parliamentary Counsel Office has made editorial and format changes to this version using the powers under subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.

Note 4 at the end of this version provides a list of the amendments included in it.

This Act is administered by the Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children.