Request Your Records | Ratonga Āwhina - Puna Mauhanga

Sharing your experiences of abuse in care, or receiving your records, can be emotionally difficult.

We provide wellbeing support to help reduce the impact of this and support you while you engage with our service.

You may be able to receive:

• Up to 6 sessions of counselling, therapy, art therapy, or massage / mirimiri, OR
• Other short term wellbeing support that is meaningful to you,

Support is available to help with the impacts of when you share your story with us or receive your care records.

If, while working with you, we notice you may need other types of support, we will talk with you about this.
With your agreement, we can help connect you with other services that may be better placed to support your needs beyond our service.

We aim to provide support that respects your culture, identity, and access needs, including for Māori, Pasifika, Deaf Survivors, and people with disabilities.

Talk with our team about what support might help. Support is offered at your pace, with care and respect.

Who the Service is for

The Survivor Experiences Service is for people who were abused in state, faith-based, or other forms of care (e.g. private schools, non-governmental organisations). We offer two services for Survivors and whānau:

• Sharing experiences of abuse in care - see our Sharing Experiences webpage for more information
• Care records support.

Help with care records

We understand getting your care records can be distressing and re-traumatising. The process can be long and complex, and you may not know what to expect. We can help people who have been abused in care to request and understand their records.

We can:

• Help you understand which records exist about you
• Help you understand which organisations may hold your records
• Help you access them – we can request records on your behalf if you wish, so that you do not have to deal with organisations connected with your abuse
• help you read and understand the information and language used in your records, if you wish
• help you decide what you want to do with the information

You do not need to share your experience of abuse in care with us to request your records, but if you would like to do this as well, we can help arrange a time and place for this.

For a definition of what we mean by 'care records', please visit: Scope and definition of care records — plain language summary (archives.govt.nz) (external link)

Please note: The Service cannot change any of the processes that the record holders have – using the Service does not make it faster or allow you to jump the queue. The Service also has no control over what parts are redacted from your records. We will help you understand why certain parts may have been redacted, and if there are any concerns we can liaise with the organisation on your behalf.

Who can get records support

Records support is only available for people who have been abused in care (state, faith-based or other forms of care like private schools or NGOs). People who were in care, but do not identify as Survivors of abuse in care, will need to go directly to the record holders to request their records.

The Service will directly support Survivors of abuse in care, along with any whānau or other support people they consent to being involved in their requests for care records.

How to get records support

You can contact us to register with the Service and get records support.

• Phone - 0800 456 090 (NZ) 8:30am – 4:30pm Monday – Friday
• Phone - 1-800 456 032 (AUS) 8:30am – 4:30pm NZT Monday – Friday
• Email - records2@survivorexperiences.govt.nz
• Text - 8328
• If you are Deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, speech impaired or find it hard to talk, you can use the New Zealand Relay Service - nzrelay.co.nz (external link)

Once you have contacted us, we will help you complete your registration. We will also help organise any short-term support specific to our Service. We will then help you request and receive your records.

Wellbeing support

Sharing your experiences of abuse in care, or receiving your records, can be emotionally difficult.

We provide wellbeing support to help reduce the impact of this and support you while you engage with our service.

You may be able to receive:

• Up to 6 sessions of counselling, therapy, art therapy, or massage / mirimiri, OR
• Other short term wellbeing support that is meaningful to you,

Support is available to help with the impacts of when you share your story with us or receive your care records.

If, while working with you, we notice you may need other types of support, we will talk with you about this.
With your agreement, we can help connect you with other services that may be better placed to support your needs beyond our service.

We aim to provide support that respects your culture, identity, and access needs, including for Māori, Pasifika, Deaf Survivors, and people with disabilities.

Talk with our team about what support might help. Support is offered at your pace, with care and respect.

If you need emergency support, or other forms of support, please visit our Get Support webpage for information about 24/7 helplines  

We understand that by going through this process to access and receive your records, you and your whānau may experience some distress or resurfacing of memories of these experiences.

Your mana and oranga (wellbeing) are at the centre of our interactions with you and your whānau.

While the Survivor Experiences Service cannot provide long-term support, providers such as ACC or community providers may be able to assist you.

Privacy

Your privacy is our priority. It is important that you understand how your information will be kept and used.

We have systems and safeguards in place to control how we collect, manage and use information. This helps us use information appropriately and keep it safe.

For more information about we  protect your privacy page, please see our Privacy webpage.

Kōnae

For more support on accessing your records, you can also visit www.konae.org.nz