An advocate for child protection is warning of significant gaps in safeguards for children involved with charities, particularly those not receiving government funding.
Willow Duffy, founder of the organisation Safeguarding Children, expressed concern about a lack of mandatory standards, training, and robust vetting processes for staff and volunteers across the charitable sector following an inquiry she made to regulatory bodies.
Her concerns are heightened by the recent sentencing of former Destiny Church youth leader Kiwihahana Te Hira to six years in prison for the sexual abuse of several young boys over a five-year period while involved in youth programmes.
Current New Zealand law, specifically the Children’s Act 2014 administered by Oranga Tamariki, requires organisations funded by the government to provide services to children to have child protection policies and safety checking procedures in place for all staff and volunteers. This includes police checks and identity verification.
However, Ms Duffy argues this leaves a major loophole for charities, community groups, and faith-based organisations that operate without direct government funding.
“That leaves huge gaps in charities that are not publicly funded,” Ms Duffy stated in an interview.
Seeking clarification, Ms Duffy submitted an Official Information Act request to Charity Services, which operates under the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), asking whether specific standards or guidance existed for charities regarding child safeguarding, against which they could be held accountable.
Charity Services responded that while charities must comply with existing legislation, the service itself does not provide specific safeguarding standards or guidance beyond that. Ms Duffy expressed shock that the response referred her to a child protection policy her own organisation had previously helped develop for Sport New Zealand.
“The thing that shocked me more than anything is they referred me back to a child protection policy that Safeguarding Children and myself had actually written ourselves for Sport New Zealand,” she said. “It felt as though they were doing a Google search… there was nothing that was actually on their website or any guidance or any standards.”
Ms Duffy contrasted this with the situation in the UK and Australia, where the respective Charities Commissions provide clear standards, guidance, toolkits, and even webinars to help charities ensure they are child-safe environments.
She advocates for comprehensive standards in New Zealand that go beyond basic police vetting, which only reveals past convictions. Necessary measures, she argued, should include:
Thorough reference checks focusing specifically on a person’s attitudes and behaviours around children.
Clear codes of conduct outlining acceptable and unacceptable behaviours, including interactions on social media or inviting children to private homes.
Mandatory training on child protection for all staff and volunteers.
“It shouldn’t be difficult for charities to know what to do,” Ms Duffy said, highlighting the need for a central resource and clear expectations. She noted the difficulty for parents and caregivers to know whether an organisation they entrust their children to is subject to mandatory safety checks under the Children’s Act, as this depends on its funding source.
Ms Duffy also pointed to findings from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, which highlighted issues within faith-based institutions and state care providers, suggesting a history that necessitates robust oversight across all organisations interacting with children. “There is a strong correlation between charities and abuse of children in New Zealand,” she claimed, referencing evidence presented to the inquiry.
In response to inquiries, the Director of Charity Services, Charlotte Stanley, confirmed that there are currently no specific child protection provisions within the Charities Act 2005 itself. However, she stated that registered charities must comply with all relevant New Zealand legislation, including the Children’s Act, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and the Employment Relations Act 2000.
Ms Stanley reiterated that the Children’s Act requirements for safety checking apply specifically to those organisations funded by government agencies. “A charity that receives government funding to work with children must follow the Children’s Act,” she confirmed.
Ms Duffy maintains that universal standards are essential. “Those standards should be in place wherever children go… It should be easy for people to actually go and find them… They need to help charities.”