Marokopa children inquiry: Agencies feared sharing information, Upston says
Social Development Minister Louise Upston stated that government agencies feared sharing information, hindering the search for the Phillips children who were with their fugitive father for nearly four years. A public inquiry found that police and Oranga Tamariki repeatedly minimized warnings and missed crucial opportunities to find the children, who were eventually found unharmed after their father was killed by police.
Why it matters
This case exposes significant systemic failures in child protection and inter-agency cooperation within New Zealand, prompting calls for clearer guidelines on information sharing to prevent similar disappearances and ensure child safety.
Government agencies were afraid of sharing information as fugitive dad Tom Phillips evaded authorities in dense bush near Marokopa with his three children for nearly four years, Social Development Minister Louise Upston says.
Upston, who is leading the Government’s response to a public inquiry into the children’s disappearance, believed agencies had “a fear that they will share the wrong information, that they’ll get into trouble, that information that they share won’t be kept safe”.
However the Privacy Commissioner said last year – responding to Dame Karen Poutasi’s 2022 review – that “people can – must – share information if a child is at risk”, she told Mike Hosking Breakfast .
“There’s more work to do to make that message very, very clear. Our expectations are that people who work in government agencies share information freely when there is a child or children at risk of harm.”
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