Abuse in care

Crown Law's involvement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry | Changes made by Crown Law | Response to recommendations | Apology from the Solicitor-General delivered in Parliament on 12 November 2024

A Royal Commission of Inquiry was established on 1 February 2018 to investigate what happened to children, young people and adults in State care and in the care of faith-based institutions in Aotearoa New Zealand between 1950 and 1999.

On 25 June 2024 the Inquiry presented its Final Report – Whanaketia – to the Governor-General. Whanaketia included recommendations on how Aotearoa New Zealand can better care for children, young people and adults in State and faith-based care. Learn more about the Inquiry, Whanaketia and other reports here.

On 12 November 2024, the Solicitor-General, along with six other leaders of public sector agencies, publicly apologised to survivors of abuse in state care. This took place alongside the public apology delivered by the Prime Minister at Parliament.

Text and video of the Solicitor-General's Apology is available further down this page. 

Crown Law's involvement with the Royal Commission of Inquiry

Crown Law engaged with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care and the Care of Faith-based Institutions since in a transparent and open way, including providing legally privileged documents held by Crown Law to the Inquiry, and opening our files to the Inquiry.

Crown Law also provided assistance and advice to other public sector agencies involved in the Inquiry.

The Solicitor-General attended the Inquiry to give evidence on two occasions – at the State Redress Hearing in 2020, and at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit hearing in 2021. She issued an apology following the release of the Abuse Inquiry’s He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu report on the response from the State to survivors’ efforts to obtain redress for abuse.

Changes made by Crown Law

Crown Law has made changes to the way it approaches abuse in care claims to be more focused on survivors in legal processes and take into account the sensitive subject matter and vulnerability of survivors. These changes include working with other public sector agencies on new processes to stop the Limitation Act “clock”, which could otherwise prevent claims being filed through time-based restrictions, our approach to name suppression applications to better reflect the needs of survivors, and the payment of legal aid debts in settlements of claims. 

Response to recommendations

The Abuse Inquiry released a substantial list of recommendations for the government as part of its reports. A Crown Response Office was established following a recommendation in Whanaketia for a central government agency to coordinate, monitor and report on the government’s response to the Royal Commission. The office sits in the Public Service Commission. Learn more here.

In response to one of the recommendations in the final report the Solicitor-General, along with six other leaders of public sector agencies, publicly apologised for acts or omissions of their agency relating to abuse in state care. This took place alongside the public apology delivered by the Prime Minister on 12 November 2024.

Some of the Abuse Inquiry’s recommendations were directed at the Solicitor-General and Crown Law, including recommendations relating to the Prosecution Guidelines issued by the Solicitor-General, which are used by prosecutors from a range of agencies. New Guidelines took effect on 1 January 2025, following a comprehensive review that started in 2021.

Crown Law continues to provide advice to other government departments as part of the All of Government response to the Abuse Inquiry’s recommendations. 

Apology from the Solicitor-General delivered in Parliament on 12 November 2024

Video (on Vimeo) of the Solicitor-General's apology to survivors of abuse in care

Text in te reo Māori (PDF): Te Whakapāha nā te Rōia Mātāmua o te Karauna ki ngā mōrehu o te tūkino i te wā tiaki

Easy Read Formats in Word and PDF. 

Apology in English

Tēnā koutou katoa. Ko Una Jagose toku ingoa. Ko au Te Rōia Mātāmua o te Karauna mō Aotearoa, me te kaiwhakahaere mō te Tari Ture o te Karauna. Greetings everyone, I am Una Jagose, the Solicitor-General of New Zealand and Chief Executive of the Crown Law Office.

I begin by acknowledging all of you who suffered abuses while you were in the care of the State. I acknowledge the pain and the trauma that you have suffered, and your families have suffered with you. I acknowledge the lasting impact this has had on you, your whānau and your lives.

As Solicitor-General I am responsible for the way the Crown conducts litigation in Court.  I am here today to say that I am sorry for those times when we, the lawyers, made your lives even more difficult.

I am here today to say sorry.

I am sorry that survivors of abuse in State care were not always treated with dignity by us lawyers.

I am sorry for not always being as survivor-focused as we should have been. There were times when we were too aggressive. 

I am sorry that we made an already terrible situation worse.

 We should carry out our role as lawyers for the Government with compassion and we should understand how difficult it is for you to raise, again, in formal legal processes, the abuses and neglect that you have suffered.  

 At times, we lost sight of you, the people behind the claims. I am sorry for that.
Sometimes, we made uninformed judgments that were not fair or necessary.  Sometimes, we caused unnecessary delays in legal processes. 

 We didn’t always manage the way in which information was gathered.  In the early 1990s, in particular, we did not identify some of your claims as raising serious criminal allegations.  For that I am sorry.

 I hear your wero.

 We have since made changes to the way we conduct historical abuse litigation. There are now bespoke out-of-court settlement processes. This avoids many of the adversarial processes of going to Court with your claim.

 We lawyers work with others to settle you claims promptly. We have put in place processes to stop the Limitation Act “clock”, which could otherwise prevent claims being filed through time-based restrictions; we have changed our approach to name suppression applications; legal aid debts can be repaid in settlements of claims. 

 We must always remember to see the person in the claim. For the times we have failed to do that, I am sorry.

 We will continue to work to find ways to recognise your vulnerability, and the sensitive subject matter of claims and to balance our role in representing Governments   and upholding the law.

 I will not look away. We will do better

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