Between 1950 and 2019 an estimated 655,000 children, young people and adults spent time in places where state (government) and faith-based organisations were responsible for or involved in decisions about their guardianship or care.
This included a wide range of places such as children’s homes, health camps, psychiatrc hospitals and wards, boot camps, borstals or youth justice residences, times spent with a foster family, and state involvement in adoptions and care arrangements with whānau and kin.
For many years individuals, groups and organisations campaigned for an investigation into abuse that took place in state and faith-based institutions and placements.
In 2017 the United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) called for an inquiry. The same year survivors and the Human Rights Commission’s Never Again - E Kore Anō campaign called for an independent inquiry.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care was launched in early 2018 and later that year was expanded to include Faith-based Institutions.
It was to investigate what happened to children, young people, and adults who were placed in the care of state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 1999.
More than 3000 people shared their experiences with the Royal Commission. Survivors of both state and faith-based institutions recounted their stories of abuse, many hoping to bring meaningful change to how such cases are handled in the future.
Learn more about the Royal Commission’s reportsopen_in_new.
The Crown Response Unit, now known as the Crown Response Officeopen_in_new (CRO) was set up in 2018 to manage the Government’s response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
The Royal Commission’s He Purapura Ora, He Māra Tipu: From Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui report highlighted the big challenges survivors face when accessing their records. These included long delays and incomplete or missing information.
To address this issue, there would be a website to guide people on how to access their records. The website aims to offer advice, information on people’s rights, and help people understand the records request process. It will not provide direct access to personal records.
Consultation with some survivors showed they were concerned a website hosted by a government agency may be difficult to trust. So, the government found a partner to create and manage a website that would guide people on how to access their records.
Citizens Advice Bureau New Zealandopen_in_new (CAB) was asked to take on this website project.
The CAB website team includes people with lived experience and whānau. CAB has also reached out to other people with lived experience and whānau for advice.
In te reo Māori, Kōnae refers to a file, a woven basket, and the belly of a fishing net - symbols of gathering, sifting, and keeping what’s valuable. Kōnae offers website users a place to recover, keep, or release parts of their history. The name Kōnae was inspired by a survivor who helped develop Kōnae. Removed from home as a small boy he began searching for his records in the 1990s and now has a box that weighs more than 20 kilograms. He told us that finding his records was like hauling in a net that carries part of your life story. Hauling it in has taken ages, it is hard, and heavy but worth it.
CAB are continuing to receive your feedback on this website and what improvements can be made to:
CAB are the kaitiaki (guardians) of this website and our team is committed to supporting people to access their records.
View our Koro and Moko video in New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL).
English, te reo Māori, Tongan, Samoan captions are available for this video.
English transcript:
Text on screen: He Karere nā Ngā Pou Whakawhirinaki o Aotearoa – A message from the Citizens Advice Bureau NZ
This video was shaped by the experiences of real people and may be triggering for some viewers.
The people featured are actors.
Dedicated to all those who should have been safe, cared for and protected.
Teenage boy:
Have you ever pulled up a net and found something you weren’t expecting? My Koro has.
When Koro was a kid, he got told he’d been a little shit. So he got taken away from his home. Away from his whānau, away from everything he knew.
He was just a kid. And the people who meant to care for him? Yeah nah.
He…He tried to run, but they always found him. And every time he ran, they took him further away. Until he didn’t know where he came from anymore.
He always told me he was lost for years. But one day, he found a way to pull some of it back.
He started finding his records.
It wasn’t easy and it’s taken him years. Some places never got back to him. Others said they’d lost his stuff. A few told him no. Over time, he started finding his records. Koro’s been collecting his records ever since and yeah, his box is pretty heavy now.
Koro says finding his records from those times was like pulling up a net. Some stuff in there? Pretty hard to look at. Stuff he didn’t want.
But then there were also parts of his life. His whānau names. His whakapapa. Letters people wrote to him that he never got. His only photo from when he was a little kid. Little pieces of who he was, waiting to be found.
But here’s the thing—Koro wasn’t the only one. Some like koro were told it was because they were naughty, or that no one wanted them. Some were told it was because their bodies worked differently. And some? They weren’t given a reason.
Can you guess how many?
Hundred? Nah. Higher. A thousand? Nah. Six hundred and fifty-five thousand people. Each with their own story and their own family.
Six hundred and fifty-five thousand. That’s like thirteen thousand people every year, for fifty years.
It’s like the town size of Oamaru, Levin, or Cambridge being made to leave home every year. For fifty years.
So what’s this got to do with you? We want everyone to know two things:
First: That records were created about people from those times. Whether things took place in a foster family, a children’s home or a place run by a church.
And Second: That you have a legal right to your records.
So we built a website to help people find their records. We called it Kōnae. Because a kōnae is a small basket. But it can also mean the bottom of a fishing net—the place where everything gathers.
Koro says getting his records was like pulling up his kōnae—finding the bits of his life that were waiting for him. And now, they’re his to keep.
So listen to Koro. Like and share this video. And go check out Kōnae.
Koro:
Hey Moko. Time to head home mate.
Visit Kōnae today. My Records. My Rights."
Text on screen:
Kōnae: My Records Guide. Konae.org.nz
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This information may upset some people when they are reading it.
If you are upset after reading this document you can talk to your:
You can also contact Need to Talk by:
It does not cost any money to call / text 1737.
This is a long document.
It can be hard for some people to read a document this long.
Some things you can do to make it easier are:
The Citizens Advice Bureau is called CAB for short.
Where it says we / our this means the CAB.
This webpage tells you the reasons why we made this website.
The website will support you to get your records from the time you were in the care and guardianship of others.
Here records means the information an organisation has kept / made about a person.
Here in the care or guardianship of others means when an organisation is put in charge of a person and decides things like:
A guardian is an adult put in charge of the care of a person.
A guardian should:
The organisations include:
Faith-based institutions are run by religious groups like churches.
Faith-based institutions provide care.
Guardianship is when a guardian is put in charge of a person.
Click here to learn what Kōnae is
Kōnae tells you how to get records an organisation has about:
The Citizens Advice Bureau is the kaitiaki / guardian of the Kōnae website.
Click here to find out what Kōnae is
Our team want to support you to get your records.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was started in 2018.
An inquiry is like an investigation.
The United Nations Committee Against Torture is called UNCAT for short.
The United Nations is an organisation made up of a lot of countries.
The countries work together to try to make the world a:
UNCAT is part of the United Nations.
It works to make sure governments are keeping their people safe from harm.
In 2017 the survivors of abuse in care asked for an inquiry.
Here a survivor of abuse in care is where a person has been:
The Human Rights Commission also asked for an inquiry.
In 2017 the United Nations Committee Against Torture called for New Zealand to do an inquiry into abuse in care.
On this webpage the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care is called the Royal Commission for short.
The Royal Commission looked into abuse that happened to people in care.
The Royal Commission was not part of the Government.
The Government could not tell the Royal Commission what to do.
The Royal Commission was not part of any faith-based institutions like churches.
The Royal Commission investigated what happened to people in care between:
and
More than 3 thousand people shared their experiences with the Royal Commission.
They hoped talking about abuse in care would stop it from happening.
Borstals were meant to improve behaviour by training young people to do jobs.
Borstals ran between:
A person in the care or guardianship of others can be a:
The places that were involved in decisions about care included:
Borstals were places young people were sometimes sent when they did something to break the law.
The young people were aged from:
to
There were about 6 hundred and 55 thousand people in care in Aotearoa New Zealand between:
Here a foster family is when a family takes a child into their home and are supposed to:
Here adoption is a legal word that means:
Many people living in the care or guardianship of others were abused by the people meant to be caring for them.
For a long time people have wanted an investigation into care by:
Here investigation means looking into something to find out:
The Crown Response Unit is now called the Crown Response Office.
The Crown Response Office is called CRO for short.
The CRO was set up in 2018 to look after the government response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
The Royal Commission was told that it was very hard for survivors to get their records.
The CRO set up a service to help survivors of abuse get the information they needed to ask for their records.
The Survivor Experiences Service supports survivors of abuse in care, and their whānau / families, to share their experiences.
They can also help survivors of abuse in care to get their records.
The CRO also works with Archives New Zealand to make it easier for survivors of abuse to get their records.
Click here to learn more about the Survivor Experiences Service
Click here to find out more about the CRO
The Royal Commission found that survivors were having a hard time getting their records.
The problems people had getting their records included:
The Kōnae website was made so survivors can get their records more easily.
Kōnae has:
Kōnae supports you to learn the right way to ask for your records.
Kōnae cannot give you your records.
The Royal Commission found that survivors of abuse did not trust a government agency to make a website.
To make a website the CRO needed:
Here independent means that the Government cannot tell an organisation what to do.
The CRO chose the CAB to:
The Kōnae website team includes:
The Kōnae website team also asked other people with lived experience of abuse in care for advice on how to make the website.
The Royal Commission made reports about what it found out during the inquiry.
The reports are listed below with website links.
Some of these reports are not in Easy Read.
Click here for the Royal Commission interim report
This is a summary of what the Royal Commission found out during the inquiry.
Click here for the Royal Commission redress report 2021
This report includes recommendations for a new redress system.
Redress means making something right when something wrong has been done.
Redress for a person who has experienced abuse in care can include things like:
Other Royal Commission reports include the:
Click here for the Royal Commission final report
Click here to learn more about the Royal Commission reports
We want to hear what you think about making things better like:
You can contact us by:
contact@konae.org.nz
0800 367 222
You can call our office during these hours:
9 am to 4 pm
10 am to 12 pm
Voicemails can be left at any time.
We will reply to them when our office is open.
If you find it hard to use the phone the New Zealand Relay service is for people who are:
Click here to find out more about the New Zealand Relay service.
More Easy Read information is available.
Click here to learn about who made this Easy Read.