It feels like repetition for the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency, which has called for an alternative service for Oranga Tamariki to support families with at-risk children following the death of young Ruthless-Empire Wall. 

A homicide investigation has been launched into the death of the Lower Hutt toddler, who was killed from blunt force trauma.  

Newstalk ZB understands that his uncle contacted Oranga Tamariki, wanting the toddler to be uplifted. 

In July, Police conducted a welfare check-in with no concerns noted. 

Talking to The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Thursday, Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency chairwoman, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, said the feeling of learning the families of a deceased child had raised previous concerns, was a familiar one.

"Here we go again," she said. 

"I don't think it's going to end...I know we might tend to put the spotlight on Oranga Tamariki and so we should, but these events happened in the home."

She said the tragedy of the situation is nobody talks or reaches out for help when their child is at risk, there needs to be a conversation about wider whanau responsibility. 

"We know that for every child killed in New Zealand, six adults know something has happened to that child before it breaths its last," said Raukawa-Tait. 

"So really, we have to start calling the families to account and really have those hard conversations, and that takes committed leadership, whanau and iwi leadership to say actually it has to stop."

When asked whether Oranga Tamariki was capable, as an organisation, of managing at-risk children, Raukawa-Tait didn't mince her words. 

"I don't think so."

She said the agency is "no doubt...trying to do their best", but said almost every week she'll take a call from a family member, usually a grandparent, mentioning they contacted Oranga Tamariki about one of their mokopuna. 

"But Oranga Tamariki just monitor it or say 'unless something actually happens, we can't intervene'. Well hell no, that's quite wrong."

When asked what the solution is, she said she was at a loss over what the best steps were but noted it was more ideal to see another party step in to support. 

She said children will live and die before the age of three because nobody was prepared to confront the hard conversations and actually monitor at-risk children. 

"It can't be done by a Government agency, it has to be done by someone else and that, to me, would be an external provider."