Outraged charities and an academic have branded the revelation a "next level" systemic failure that removes children’s "dignity" and the government must end the practice.
The children’s ministry Oranga Tamariki (OT) admitted children and young people were sleeping in OT offices in the "most exceptional circumstances" as well as in motels, which has been widely reported.
Two independent sources informed the Otago Daily Times that OT offices were being used as overnight accommodation. A source said that OT had bought camp beds for children to use in the offices.
When confronted, OT admitted to the practice, including an occurrence of it in the South in the past two years. The ministry did not respond by deadline when asked if it had happened in the South this year.
OT service delivery deputy chief executive Rachel Leota said office stays happened "in the most extenuating of circumstances". The agency looked to find a "suitable placement the next day as a matter of urgency".
Ms Leota said children "may stay with staff at a site because they have had to be removed from a situation that poses a threat to their care or safety at night, and it is not possible to move them to a suitable placement before the morning".
In the lower South region, which includes Otago, Central Otago and Southland, social workers had been required to stay with tamariki or rangatahi overnight 34 times in 2022 and 12 times in 2023. This included a stay at an OT site.
OT also reported that during the past six months — September 2023 to February 2024 — motels had been used to accommodate young people on average once a fortnight, usually for stays that were four nights or fewer but on one occasion for longer.
OT was "working hard to reduce the need for temporary accommodation options" through measures including "recruiting and approving more caregivers".
The charity Child Matters, which works to prevent child abuse, slammed the practice of children and young people sleeping in motels and at OT offices. Chief executive Jane Searle said it was "obvious" that it should never happen. If a child or young person needed to be removed unexpectedly from a home for safety reasons they should be immediately placed with a suitable family member or a vetted and approved emergency caregiver, she said.
Ms Searle described the problem as a "systems failure linked to under-resourcing affecting the frontline of Oranga Tamariki work". She had "sympathy" for social workers who had nowhere to send children in an emergency situation and called on the government to prioritise the resourcing needed.
This was essential to "ensure that children and young people during a distressing time in their lives have the dignity of being given a suitable placement immediately".
University of Otago social work academic Prof Anita Gibbs, who has expertise in fostering and adoption, said it was common knowledge Oranga Tamariki had been using motels due to a lack of emergency caregivers but not that the agency had resorted to using its own offices.
Children and young people sleeping in OT offices was "taking it to the next level", she said.
"It is a worrying sign of a system in crisis. I don’t see it getting better any time soon."
Prof Gibbs said that her conversations with caregivers in the community led her to believe they were "reluctant" to become emergency caregivers because "they don’t always feel supported sufficiently to be competent to look after children who are high needs and complex at the drop of a phone call".
The trades union Public Service Association (PSA), which represents Oranga Tamariki social workers, said it was working with Oranga Tamariki on addressing the issue of motel and office sleeping.
Assistant secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said: "The PSA has serious concerns about the current management of temporary accommodation for tamariki and rangatahi.
"Our members at Oranga Tamariki work extremely hard to provide safe environments and it is essential that health and safety concerns are properly considered and remedied."
