A major public inquiry in New Zealand has sharply criticized government agencies for failing to adequately address the risks to three children hidden in a dense forest for nearly four years. The report, released Tuesday, found officials did not take seriously enough the harms the children faced early in their disappearance.
The independent investigation, launched in November 2025, scrutinized how agencies handled the case of Tom Phillips. Phillips kept his children, then aged five, seven and eight, in rugged, squalid conditions without access to health care or education before he died in a police shootout.
The inquiry found that the harms caused by Phillips' isolation of his children were "underplayed, minimised or overlooked" for "significant periods" by both the national police force and Oranga Tamariki, the country's child protection agency. Concerns raised by the children's mother and other relatives were often dismissed as a mere "parenting dispute."
Phillips first vanished with his children from Marokopa, a rural township on New Zealand's North Island, in December 2021. This was not his first disappearance with them, yet the inquiry found officials did not act with sufficient urgency.
New Zealand Minister of Social Development Louise Upston acknowledged the findings Tuesday. Upston said police officers and social workers missed "significant opportunities" after the family's initial disappearance months before the December 2021 incident.
The inquiry detailed specific failures: officials did not act quickly enough on a 2023 sighting of the family, did not seek surveillance warrants and did not involve the military early enough in search efforts.
Upston issued a direct apology: "To the Phillips children directly, this report has found that our agencies did not take all practical steps to protect you. For that we are deeply sorry."
Amanda Malu, Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki, called the report "difficult and at times harrowing" to read. She acknowledged that her staff were "largely dismissive" of concerns raised by the children's mother and older sisters.
"I would particularly like to acknowledge the courage shown by the children's mother and older siblings," Malu said. "We did not listen in the way we should have, and this family deserved better from us."
The New Zealand government pledged to implement all recommendations from the report, including revisions to how reports of concern about children are made and processed by agencies.
The public inquiry does not have authority to impose criminal charges or penalties. No individual officials are named in the report as facing specific disciplinary actions.
