A children's advocate says she is "utterly appalled" by revelations that children were allegedly sexually and physically abused after going to police with complaints.
Safeguarding Children chief executive Willow Duffy said the children's safety and wellbeing "were not kept at the centre of the initial investigations".
"Police had been alerted to abuse, yet children allegedly remained exposed to further harm. We need to understand why protective action did not follow."
RNZ earlier revealed the cases were among 11 where police found further offending may have occurred after an initial report. The cases were identified as part of re-investigations of more than 50 child protection and adult sexual assault files.
The re-investigations, under Operation Hark, began after concerns were raised in May about Detective Inspector Kevan Verry's handling of a historical sexual abuse case in Northland that had sat for a couple of years with no action.
In a statement to RNZ last week, Detective Superintendent Keith Borrell said the re-investigation phase had identified 11 cases where further alleged offending occurred after the initial report to police.
RNZ understands the 11 cases include allegations of sexual and physical abuse against children.
Asked to comment on the revelation, Borrell initially said in a statement late on Wednesday evening that police "note there are further questions around additional offending identified since an initial report was made".
"Given there are active criminal investigations under way, we are limited in further comment at this stage."
Pressed further, Borrell said on Friday that while police were limited in what comment they can make, "we can confirm that the 11 cases referenced include child protection matters, as well as both adult and child sexual assault matters".
Duffy told RNZ on Monday she was "utterly appalled that children allegedly suffered further abuse after reports had already been made to police".
"What has emerged indicates that these children's safety and wellbeing were not kept at the centre of the initial investigations … Who was checking whether they were safe? Whether the person alleged to have abused them still had access to them? What was happening in their lives while their files were not progressing?"
Duffy said this was where "professional curiosity matters".
"We have to ask questions, challenge assumptions and look beyond what we are first told. Children do not always have the words or feel safe enough to tell us everything. It is our responsibility as professionals to understand what they may be experiencing and act on concerns."
She said children had "very little control over these situations."
"They rely on adults to protect them. A delay in an investigation does not mean the risk to a child has stopped.
"There needs to be a thorough root cause analysis to understand why this happened, how it was allowed to continue and what needs to change to prevent it happening again.
"That must include practice, training, supervision, workloads, leadership and organisational culture, alongside the actions of the individual investigator"
Duffy said the findings must lead to changes that are "checked to ensure they work".
"For me, child-centred practice means that every decision starts with the child's safety and wellbeing, and that someone remains responsible for following that through."
HELP Auckland executive director Kathryn McPhillips earlier told RNZ it was "deeply disturbing that children were left unprotected after reports of sexual abuse that had been made to police were not fully investigated".
"In any situation where abuse occurs, we know that when an abuser continues to have access to a child, that the child may be abused again, potentially hundreds of times. This is why it is critical that every report to Police of sexual abuse is thoroughly investigated at the time.
"What matters now is that these survivors and their families are able to get the specialist support they need, when they need it, for as long as they need it.
"It is also important that those people responsible for the abuse are held to account and required to undergo rehabilitation, as this is the way to stop them hurting more children."
The organisation welcomed the follow-up police investigation and for police to pursue prosecutions wherever possible.
"Importantly, we must ensure this cannot happen again. Police must review and address the failures that allowed these reports to go without full investigation, despite the existing quality assurance processes.
"It is crucial that wider issues are accounted for openly and honestly, and robust improvements are put in place."
