Publication date: 1 December 2022
On 12 November 2021, 5-year-old Malachi Subecz tragically died as a result of injuries inflicted by his caregiver. Six agencies had some form of contact with Malachi, his caregiver, and/or his whānau prior to his death.
Chief Executives appointed Dame Karen Poutasi to lead an independent review into how the children’s sector identifies and responds to suspected abuse. Dame Karen drew on the case of Malachi Subecz to look across the system to identify ways of improving the identification of and response to abuse of children and young people. The independent review can be found on the Oranga Tamariki website.
The independent review was informed by the individual reviews undertaken by agencies, including the health system review that was undertaken by Manatū Hauora’s clinical leadership in July 2022. The Ministry’s review identifies five recommendations to improve the way the health and wider children’s system works together to identify and respond to child abuse. The final review can be found in the downloads section of this page.
In October 2022, Ministry officials provided the Director-General of Health with initial advice on ways the recommendations from the health system review could be progressed. This can be found in the downloads section of this page.
The independent review and the six agency reviews were publicly released on 1 December 2022. The Ministry will work with Te Whatu Ora and Te Aka Whai Ora, and other children’s agencies where relevant, to progress Dame Karen’s recommendations