Mum of teen who died of cancer says Oranga Tamariki contributed to 'suffering'

The mother of a teenage boy who died from a rare and aggressive form of cancer believes Oranga Tamariki's failings added to his pain and suffering.

The mother said that for nearly two years in custody - including at Rotorua's Te Maioha o Parekarangi Youth Justice facility - staff failed to provide her son appropriate medical care despite his consistent complaints of worsening back pain.

In early 2023, when the 16-year-old "begged" to see a doctor, saying he had shooting pains in his back and legs, he was denied. Just two weeks later, staff noticed a growth on his back, leading to a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma - a highly metastatic form of cancer typically found in bones or soft tissue of children and young adults.

He died in July this year.

"They took away any survival chance he had because they took it upon themselves to discriminate against him, not take into consideration his special needs, and they judged him," the boy's mum, who RNZ has agreed not to name, said.

The mother is now urging Oranga Tamariki to rapidly implement improvements recommended by the Chief Ombudsman to prevent others suffering like her son did.

She is also seeking compensation from Oranga Tamariki for the pain and suffering endured by not only her son, but the whole whānau.

"You took our kid off us, and you've deprived us of any relationship with him during the time before he had cancer," she said.

Oranga Tamariki have apologised for failings highlighted by the Ombudsman's investigation - although it only addressed concerns about Te Maioha, not his other placements.

Pain and paracetamol

The boy had been in the Oranga Tamariki system since he was 11 years old, after his school at the time requested that he be assessed for ADHD - which Oranga Tamariki funded.

He later ended up in the youth justice system.

During his time in custody, the boy bounced between residences, including Palmerston North and Whakatāne, finally ending up at Te Maioha in December 2022.

The then-14-year-old boy had been diagnosed with sciatica after he sustained an injury to his lower back during an alleged altercation with police in 2021.

"I still have his blood-stained jacket from the night it happened," the boy's mother said.

The mother said staff assumed his pain was linked to that diagnosis and gave him paracetamol to help with his symptoms.

However, the boy told the Ombudsman his requests for help weren't always answered. He remembered being denied the chance to see the doctor, even though there was one frequently on site. The Ombudsman report noted that when he did see a doctor in February 2023, he was denied pain relief.

Mother wasn't made aware

Although the boy was in the custody of Oranga Tamariki, his mother was still his legal guardian.

She said she wasn't informed about his hospital admission until her son's girlfriend contacted her. The boy's mother then called the residence, who could only confirm that he was in hospital.

"They refused to tell me which hospital. I found the hospital by calling both hospitals in Rotorua, and it was through the doctor herself that I found out my son had been presented due to the mass on his spine," she said.

He was transferred to Starship the day after his initial hospital admission.

While in hospital, the boy remained under both Care and Protection and Youth Justice Orders until April 2023, when his sentence was reduced, and ultimately, custody was "relinquished" to his mother.

The boy started palliative chemotherapy in December that year.

Oranga Tamariki 'acted unreasonably'

In 2023, the boy complained to the Ombudsman about "unreasonable" decisions and actions by Te Maioha staff: inadequate care for his health needs, not being heard when he asked for help, not being given appropriate pain relief, and poor communication with his whānau. He believed staff did not want to help when he was in pain and that he was often punished instead.

His mother believed Oranga Tamariki neglected her child and its duty to act as a "stand-in parent", specifically in relation to his health needs.

The investigation by Peter Boshier, then-Chief Ombudsman, focused purely on what happened during the boy's few months at Te Maioha, from December 2022 to February 2023.

During the investigation, Oranga Tamariki provided two reports - one showed the boy received "adequate healthcare" while the other, five months later, identified noticeable gaps.

Paper-based medication records - rather than a digital system - created inconsistencies, so Boshier relied on recollections from staff, the boy and whānau.

"There is a clear need for record-keeping systems to be modernised," Boshier said.

He found the system had let down the rangatahi in its care and that barriers prevented staff from supporting the boy as expected.

Boshier found several decisions were "unreasonable", including:

• Oranga Tamariki's arrangements for the boy's medicine administration and record keeping
• Staff's response to requests for pain relief
• Communication with his mother

"My investigation has highlighted that as a whole, Oranga Tamariki failed to ensure effective policy, procedures, and systems were in place to adequately act as a responsible and proactive 'stand-in' parent."

"Because you came forward," Boshier wrote to the boy, "Te Maioha and other Youth Justice Facilities around Aotearoa are committed to changing their medical administration systems so that other rangatahi will feel safe and heard, and expectations around providing proactive care and support to rangatahi have been highlighted."

'Extremely sorry' - Oranga Tamariki

In November 2024, the Chief Ombudsman made eight recommendations, including an apology to the boy and whānau and improvements to systems and practice.

In February 2025, Iain Chapman, acting Deputy Chief Executive for Youth Justice Services and Residential Care, contacted the boy's mother to arrange a formal apology. The email wrongly referred to her son as her "mokopuna".

"I think the best starting point would be to establish what it is you are apologising for, and then do that in a timely manner, as my son will more than likely be dead by the time you have organised this, judging by the time frame it's taken for me to get a reply," the mother responded.

An official apology was issued on 10 April.

The letter acknowledged the mistakes made at Te Maioha, the difficulty of receiving a cancer diagnosis away from whānau, and committed to improvements.

"I hope that this letter shows my sincere regret for these failings, and our acknowledgement of the impact this has had on you and your whānau," he wrote. Chapman also acknowledged the mother's resilience.

Oranga Tamariki agreed to cover cancer treatment costs and medical support, but even then, the mother said they let her down.

"They were supposed to buy him a wheelchair… they got the recommendations and the cost six months ago. These wheelchairs are custom-made and can take several months," the boy's mother said in April.

She said the wheelchair arrived two weeks before he died in July; he used it once. Oranga Tamariki did not provide a reason for the delay.

In a written response to further questions from RNZ about the boy's care, Oranga Tamariki said: "We failed to adequately care and respond to concerns for this young person while in a youth justice residence, and we have accepted the Ombudsman's findings, recommendations, and proposed remedies."

It refused to provide further answers, citing privacy grounds.

The boy's mother said the relevant Oranga Tamariki policies and procedures may be amended, but she still worried for tamariki under the agency's care.

"An apology without change or actions are just words… they're empty words," she said.

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