Complaints
If you have feedback about any of our services, staff or programs we welcome your comments. If you have a formal complaint we have outlined the procedure below.
Complaints Process
Definition of a Complaint or Concern
The following constitutes a complaint: Any verbal or written concern/observation that call into question the actions, behaviour or activities of any person involved with the Organisation, or any aspect of the Organisation’s environment, which impinges on the rights, safety or health of any person engaging with Mana especially the child.
Family/Whānau will be informed on enrolment that there is a complaints procedure. This will be included in the information given to whānau at the enrolment stage. This information will include the contact details of Child, Youth and Family in the case that Whānau or Staff wish to report a serious concern or are not satisfied with how a complaint has been handled.
Complaints Procedure
A complaint is received via our online form, text message, email, letter or phone call.
Assuming the complaint is not anonymous a Director will contact the complainant to discuss their concerns.
The complaint will be discussed with the Supervisor or Manager of the staff member implicated. In the event that a child is at risk physically or emotionally the staff member will be stood down pending an investigation.
The staff member will be called to account on the complaint. If necessary a formal employment review will be undertaken.
Within 7 working days, we will respond to the complainant with a detailed breakdown of what actions have been taken to resolve the complaint.
Details of the complaint, including the identity of the complainant, must be kept confidential to those concerned unless requested otherwise by the complainant. The complainant has the right to have a support person or advocate present when making a complaint.
If the complainant feels that their complaint has not been handled correctly or is unsatisfied with the outcome of the complaint, they have the right to take the matter to an external agency, e.g. Privacy Commission, Ministry of Social Development or the Police.
Improvement of service
Once a complaint has been received, reviewed and identified as requiring change, improvement and or refinement we will use the Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) model to improve our services, processes and systems.
The CPI model involves:
Plan: Identify an opportunity for improvement based on the complaints process and plan for change in consultation with stakeholders including the complainant
Do: Implement the required change.
Check: Analyse the results of the change and determine that the implementation strategy meets the required outcome. Seek feedback from all stakeholders
Act: Continuously assess the results and seek further improvement.
External Agencies
Review Secretariat
Chief Executive Advisory Panel for Complaints
Oranga Tamariki—Ministry for Children
PO Box 546
Wellington 6140
review_secretariat@ot.govt.nz
You can also take your concern to:
Office of the Children’s Commissioner
Phone: (04) 471 1410
Social Workers Registration Board
Phone: (04) 931 2650
Office of the Ombudsman
Phone: 0800 802 602
Abuse in Care – Make a Claim
If you feel you have been mistreated by Mana while in the care of Oranga Tamariki-Ministry for Children, you can make a formal claim.
Email claims@ot.govt.nz, or call Oranga Tamariki on 0508 326 459 and ask to be put through to the Feedback and Complaints team.
An advisor will be appointed to assist you and will contact you to start the process by listening to your experience to find out more information on the nature of your claim and discussing next steps.
Complaint Form
Please complete the form in as much detail as possible. Someone will be in contact asap (typically within 24 hours) to discuss your complaint.
Please rest assured that anyone lodging a complaint will not have their identity released without their prior approval.