Key recommendations for Oranga Tamariki • Secure Care rooms are inappropriate for housing Children and Young People and their use should stop. Alternatives should be sought by the Ministry urgently. • Distressed children and young people must not be placed in the stressful conditions of Secure Care rooms. • Secure Care rooms should be better furnished, made more child friendly, and contain means for children and young people to occupy themselves whilst in the unit. • Secure Care unit outdoor yards should include exercise equipment, a basketball hoop and other means for children and young people to physically exert themselves. • Systems for electronically recording and analysing all uses of Secure Care rooms must be urgently developed and installed in all Oranga Tamariki residences. This should include data on ethnicity, age and other protected characteristics. • The high number of use of force incidents in the Youth Justice facility examined needs to be analysed and addressed urgently. • STAR training should place more focus on verbal de-escalation and less on physical holds and control. 36