Watch the Oranga Tamariki CEO fronting here:
The video posted this week on the Newsroom website showed a young person being surrounded by staff, tackled, restrained and held in a headlock at one of the ministry s care and protection facilities.
Since then, some staff have been stood down and Children s Minister Kelvin Davis admitted the system was broken.
The agency s chief executive, Sir Wira Gardiner, said the leaked video was one of the reasons that led to the decision to close down Te Oranga, . including preliminary investigations, I want to know what happened, why it happened and why our processes didn t work and a range of other questions.
Minister for Children Kelvin Davis.
Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas
Davis said chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner had made the right decision in temporarily shutting the facility down after footage emerged of a young person being tackled and held in a headlock. I back him 100 percent. There were a number of factors that fed into him making that decision and it was the right one to make . I support him in making that decision.
He would not be surprised if there was more such abuse, he said, but stopped short of saying it was systemic. That s why there is an investigation going on - a police investigation, so I am limited in what can be said . I wouldn t say systemic child abuse, I would say there are some people who aren t living up to the standards that the country would expect.
Concerns raised over training of Oranga Tamariki staff seen tackling child in video stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SunLive - Oranga Tamariki residence temporarily shut down sunlive.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sunlive.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.