Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, ss 113A, 125
If Oranga Tamariki want someone else to become a permanent caregiver for your child, Oranga Tamariki can apply to the Family Court to have the person made a “special guardian” under the Oranga Tamariki Act. The caregivers themselves can also apply for this instead of Oranga Tamariki.
Once a new caregiver becomes a special guardian, the parents usually can’t go back to the courts later to get them to change the order. They have to get special permission from the Family Court to let them even apply, and they’ll only get that permission if there’s been some significant change.
If Oranga Tamariki or a new caregiver has applied for a special guardianship order, you will have the chance to go to court to argue against the order being made. Once the order has been made you may not get a chance to challenge it again.
Note: Special guardianship was a new type of guardianship introduced in 2016. Before then, the usual arrangement with new permanent caregivers was that Oranga Tamariki would pay for the caregiver to apply for a ‘Parenting Order’ under the Care of Children Act, to give the caregiver day-to-day care of the child. Once the Parenting Order was made, the parents would be able to challenge it every two years and argue to the Family Court that the child should return to their care. But now, if a permanent caregiver has the new special guardianship status, it is much more difficult for the parents to get their case back in front of a judge.