The use of Secure Care rooms in a Care and Protection
Residence, June-December 2019
During the same time period (June-December 2019), 14 children aged 12 to 16
years old were placed in the Secure Care unit of a Care and Protection Residence a
total of 70 times (compared to 20 children and a total of 76 occurrences in 2016).
62% of these children identified as New Zealand Mäori.
Figure 7: Frequency and length of stays in a Care and Protection Residence’s
Secure Care Unit August 2019 – January 2020
30
20
Number of
occurrences
28
17
11
10
0
0–2
Hours
2–12
Hours
1
Day
10
2
Days
2
2
3–5
Days
7
Days
Figure 8: Frequency and length of stays in a Care and Protection residence’s
Secure Care unit: 2016 and 2019 compared
50
40
Number of
occurrences
30
20
10
0
<12 hours
1 Day
2 Days
3–5 Days
7 Days
Length of stay in Secure Care
2016
2019
The Care and Protection residence saw a small reduction in the number of
children spending time in a Secure room and the number of times they were
placed there in 2019 compared to 2016: from 76 occurrences in 2016, down to
70 in 2019. Furthermore, a very substantial number of Secure stays were short –
less than 12 hours. This was a very welcome development and indicates a more
subtle use of this extreme tool.
30