Aaron and Summer Hendry of Kick Back. Photo: Supplied
An advocate for young homeless people says it is clear Oranga Tamariki needs more funding to care for teenagers and children.
The call comes as Oranga Tamariki data shows the number of kids and teens kept in police cells overnight is skyrocketing.
Aaron Hendry, co-founder and general manager of Kick Back - a youth development organisation responding to youth homelessness - said the rising numbers of children and teenagers being kept in cells showed not enough investment was going into Oranga Tamariki.
"The reality is we're not putting enough investment into ensuring that our children are getting the care, and the support, and the love that they need," he said.
"As an agency, Oranga Tamariki needs a lot more resources to ensure that it is able to provide the sort of care and support that is required to look after these children."
Hendry said there was still a lack of will to address the root cause of young people committing crimes or getting into trouble.
"This is a perfect example of one of the big issues that drives youth crime, which is homelessness. It's children that don't have stable, safe accommodation, who are often living very transient lives.
"This is part of the reason why we have challenges with this small group of children. We haven't done enough to ensure that we are fundamentally dealing with that core issue of youth homelessness and child homelessness."
Oranga Tamariki data showed 418 children and teenagers were kept in a cell for more than one day in the year ended June 2024, compared to 42 in the year to June 2022.
Tamatha Paul Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Oranga Tamariki said there was pressure on its facilities, but it always aimed to move children and young people to more appropriate placements as soon as possible after their arrest.
Green Party justice spokesperson Tamatha Paul said "the fact that rangatahi are spending time in police cells, you know, we're talking about children here, and that's wrong that we put them in police cells".
She said there was advice from professionals in the sector, and that advice needed to be taken onboard by those carving out policies.
"Have a look at what the judges have to say, have a look at what the police have to say, and you'll see a picture with a mandate on all sides that says a criminal justice approach to troubled rangatahi who are trying to survive has never worked, and is not the right approach, and we need to leave it in the past."
Oranga Tamariki said it was committed to the government's target of reducing serious and persistent offending behaviours, which would keep children and young people from entering the youth justice system to begin with, or prevent those already there from reoffending.
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