WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A major investigation into New Zealander Tom Phillips, who hid his children in dense forest for years before he died in a police shootout, has been criticized by officials for not taking the harm and risks to the children seriously enough early in the saga of their disappearance.
The Public Inquiry, a formal independent inquiry into matters of significance to New Zealand, was launched in November 2025 to scrutinize how government agencies handled the matter. It was fueled by outrage over how a father involved in legal proceedings could elude authorities for nearly four years while forcing his children to live in harsh, squalid conditions in a remote rural area with no access to health care or education.
The investigation found that officials denied the mother’s fears
The inquiry’s report, released on Tuesday, said the harm caused by Phillips isolating his children was “underestimated, minimized or ignored” for “significant periods” by police and New Zealand’s child protection agency Oranga Tamariki. The report added that concerns raised by the children’s mother and her relatives were “often downplayed as part of a parental dispute.”
When Phillips disappeared with his children – then aged 5, 7 and 8 – from Marokopa, a tiny rural town on New Zealand’s North Island, in December 2021, it was not the first time he had disappeared with them. However, the investigation showed that officials involved in the case did not act quickly enough.
The government apologized to the children
Since the family’s first disappearance a few months earlier, police and social workers have missed significant opportunities, New Zealand Social Development Minister Louise Upston said in a government response to an inquiry on Tuesday. The investigation found that officials did not respond quickly enough to the family’s appearance in 2023, did not request a surveillance warrant and did not involve the military early enough.
“As it relates directly to the Phillips children, this report showed that our agencies did not take all practical steps to protect you,” Upston said in a statement. “We deeply regret this.”
The government has committed to implementing all of the report’s recommendations, which include changes to how reports of children of concern to agencies are made and processed. However, the report does not name individual officials and the public inquiry does not have the power to bring criminal charges or impose penalties.
Oranga Tamariki chief executive Amanda Malu said the report, which said her staff were “largely dismissive” of the children’s mother and older sisters’ concerns about Phillips, was “difficult and at times harrowing” to read.
“I would like to especially commend the courage shown by the children’s mother and older siblings,” Malu said in a statement. “We didn’t listen as much as we should have, and this family deserved better from us.”
Little is known about the lives of children now
After Phillips was shot and killed by police in September 2025 while fleeing a robbery with one of his children, the others were soon discovered along with a cache of weapons at a makeshift campsite nearby. Since Phillips disappeared in December 2021, he and his children appear to have never been far from the tiny rural community where they lived in the vast Waikato farming region.
Since the children were found, officials have not released details about where they live or who is caring for them. Some details of the case cannot be disclosed by law.
The children’s names and photographs were widely published in New Zealand news outlets while they were missing as police appealed for members of the public to come forward with information. However, the investigation found that prior to these actions, police officers had taken a “low-key” approach to the investigation, “based on the mistaken belief that the welfare of children was not a concern”.
While on the run, Phillips committed an armed robbery and, during a fatal shootout, shot a police officer in the head, seriously wounding him.
Family had a history of disappearance
December 2021 was not the first time a fugitive father and his children disappeared. Three months ago he sparked a massive search operation when his truck was found on a beach near his home with no sign of his family.
Authorities feared they had been swept out to sea before Phillips and the children emerged from the forest 18 days later, saying they had set up camp. Phillips was charged with wasting police resources but disappeared again with his children before he was due to appear in court.
He did not have custody of the children at the time. But Orangi Tamariki staff told a family court hearing between Phillips’ first and second disappearances that the children were “perfectly fine”.
They also failed to tell the court about concerns raised by the children’s mother and the police, said the report’s author, former High Court judge and prominent lawyer Simon Moore.