A public inquiry into the case of New Zealand man Tom Phillips, who hid his children in a forest for years before dying in a police shootout, has criticized government officials for not taking the risks to the children seriously. The inquiry, launched in November 2025, examined how government agencies handled the case, which was prompted by public outrage over how Phillips was able to evade authorities for nearly four years while forcing his children to live in poor conditions without access to health care or education. The inquiry's report, released this week, stated that the harms caused by Phillips isolating his children were "underplayed, minimised or overlooked" for "significant periods" by the police and New Zealand's child protection agency, Oranga Tamariki. Concerns raised by the children's mother and her relatives were often dismissed as being part of a family dispute, the report added. Phillips vanished with his children—then 5, 7 and 8—from Marokopa, a small rural township on New Zealand’s North Island, in December 2021. It wasn't the first time he had disappeared with them, but officials dealing with the case didn't act with enough urgency, the inquiry found. The government apologized to the children, and New Zealand Minister of Social Development Louise Upston said significant opportunities were missed by police officers and social workers after the family's first disappearance months earlier. The inquiry found officials didn't act quickly enough on a 2023 sighting of the family and didn't seek surveillance warrants or bring in the military early enough. "To the Phillips children directly, this report has found that our agencies did not take all practical steps to protect you," Upston said in a statement. "For that we are deeply sorry." The government pledged to enact all of the report's recommendations, which include changes to how reports of concern to agencies about children are made and handled. However, no individual officials are named in the report, and a public inquiry doesn't have the power to make criminal charges or impose penalties. Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Amanda Malu said the report, which said her staff were "largely dismissive" about concerns of the children's mother and older sisters about Phillips, was "difficult and at times harrowing" to read. "I would particularly like to acknowledge the courage shown by the children’s mother and older siblings," Malu said in a statement. "We did not listen in the way we should have, and this family deserved better from us." Little is known about the children's lives now. After Phillips was shot dead by police officers in September 2025 as he fled a robbery with one of his children, the others were soon discovered along with a cache of guns at a makeshift campsite nearby. Since Phillips disappeared in December 2021, he and his children never appeared to have traveled far from the tiny rural settlement where they lived in the sprawling farming region of Waikato. Since the children were found, officials haven't disclosed details of where they live or who is caring for them. Some details of the case can't legally be reported. The children's names and photographs were widely published in New Zealand news outlets while they were missing as the police urged members of the public to come forward with information. However, the inquiry found that before those efforts, police officers took a "low-key" approach to the inquiry, "predicated on the misconceived view that there were no concerns for the children’s welfare."