Oranga Tamariki and the Ministry of Social Development will operate with separate legal teams from 1 July 2018.
Since the commencement of Oranga Tamariki on 1 April 2017, it has operated an interim shared legal service with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD).
As well as the move to separate legal teams from 1 July, the regional litigation function for care and protection and youth justice will transfer from MSD to Oranga Tamariki. Contact details from 1 July for all matters related to care and protection and youth justice on behalf of Oranga Tamariki are legalteam@ot.govt.nz.
The benefit fraud prosecution function will remain with MSD. Contact details for all matters related to MSD fraud prosections are via legal_prosecutions_northern@msd.govt.nz and legal_prosecutions_southern@msd.govt.nz.