New Zealand. In other words, the Crown does not have the appropriate monitoring mechanisms in place to be able to ensure that the health and disability support needs for Māori children and young people with lived experience of disability within its care and protection and youth justice residences are being met. In answer to an official information request98 about disabled children in the care of the state,ҘҘ Oranga Tamariki stated that they were unable to provide details about the numbers, or situations, of disabled children in care. They said: Oranga Tamariki records information about the disability and needs of children and young people in the case notes of individual files, located in our online record management system…Currently we cannot easily aggregate and report on data recorded in this way. During her investigations for a Waitangi Tribunal Inquiry, King (2019)99 received exactly the same reply. In response to this she writes: The harm, and lack of response to harm of disabled children, identified above, fails to uphold obligations to protect children’s rights UNCRPD Article 7 and UNCRC Article 23.*** This neglect of disabled children’s rights and wellbeing requires immediate response. Discrimination, neglect and harm are not subject to progressive realisation. As the Crown does not monitor this information and has refused to collate and provide such information to the researcher despite it being clear it was for research to support the Waitangi Tribunal’s Inquiry, the number of Māori children and young people with lived experience of disability in the care and protection and youth justice residences across Aotearoa/New Zealand is largely unknown. However, what this does signify is that the Crown does not collate and analyse nationally, the numbers of Māori children and young people with lived experience of disability within its care and protection and youth justice residences across Aotearoa/ As noted in the King quote above, the lack of data collection demonstrates a failure to adequately monitor wellbeing, in the case of her focus of disabled Māori children. However, as this whole section has demonstrated, data gaps are widespread. Work to improve data such as that undertaken by the Disability Data and Evidence Working group must ensure that data can be disaggregated by the characteristics such as ethnicity, gender and age that affect risks of violence. The following sections will demonstrate that even where some data on the elevated risks of violence towards disabled people has been known, there has not been systemic or sustained action to address it. ҘҘ Does Oranga Tamariki collect information about the impairments (disabilities) of children referred to the Oranga Tamariki? 3. How many children reported to Oranga Tamariki were disabled? 4. How many children investigated were disabled? 5. How many children, where action was taken on a complaint, were disabled? 6. What were the outcomes for these children? 9. Could you provide a list of the disabilities that were recorded for these children. 10.What percentage of all reported cases/investigations/actions were disabled children? 18. Have there been allegations of abuse by the foster families that disabled children have been placed with? If yes, please provide non-identifying details about the cases and what Oranga Tamariki has done in relation to these allegations. UNCRPD Article 7 says: *** 1. States Parties shall take all necessary measures to ensure the full enjoyment by children with disabilities of all human rights and fundamental freedoms on an equal basis with other children 2. In all actions concerning children with disabilities, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration 3. States Parties shall ensure that children with disabilities have the right to express their views freely on all matters affecting them, their views being given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity, on an equal basis with other children, and to be provided with disability and age-appropriate assistance to realize that right. UNCRC Article 23 says 1. States Parties recognize that a mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance and facilitate the child’s active participation in the community. ††† 34 A multi-agency group co facilitated by Office for Disability Issues and Stats NZ to improve the types of data needed to develop sound policy and services to meet the needs of disabled people. Human Rights Commission