Grieving families deserve highest ethical care
By Andrew Malcolm, President New Zealand Funeral Directors Association
In death, like in life, you expect those caring for your loved ones to operate at the highest ethical level and standards.
Sadly, recent high-profile funeral director arrests in Auckland, and a case we’ve warned about recently in the Waikato, suggest not all those tasked with helping families at their time of need are meeting this level. As the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand and representing around three quarters of New Zealand funeral homes – but certainly not those involved in these sad stories - we think this should change.
In 2020, following a time working with the Law Commission and the Ministry of Health on proposed regulation, we introduced a set of formal standards. These standards, which apply to all our member firms, support our long-standing ‘Code of Ethics’ and set out measurable behaviours and technical requirements with minimum levels of care.
Companies that are not members of the Funeral Directors Association, or other associations such as the NZ Embalmers Association have no requirement to uphold standards such as ours.
We are regularly seeing firms springing up to offer services such as ‘disposal-only’. These firms often operate with unqualified staff and avoid membership of our association and the standards we promote. But these firms are still looking after people’s loved ones. They still need to show basic human decency. They should not be excused from those extremely important minimum levels of care.
So, what should families expect from someone helping them at their time of grief?
The first principle association members must adhere to is ‘Putting the family first’.
To support this principle, members are required to provide written estimates and contracts and provide families with time to make informed decisions. They must act with good taste and dignity and must not engage in any conduct that is likely to deceive, mislead or harm the client families they serve.
We believe passionately in the value of a meaningful farewell for families and recent research conducted with Grief Centre showed nearly 80% of families say attending a funeral has a positive effect on their grief journey. Our members must have an informed understanding of the bereavement process and of cultural values and needs, and work with the family to deliver support in a way that best supports their grieving.
A very important second principle covers ‘Care of the deceased’.
This unique perspective means our members show utmost respect for the tūpāpaku (body), throughout the whole process of care. We are very specific about how this care should be implemented. For example, transport of the tūpāpaku must be discreet and dignified, members must have access to a qualified embalmer when preparing the deceased, and Health (Burial) Regulations must be followed.
The standards also cover a commitment to the industry of best practices. Our association has invested in a paid National Office team who inspect, monitor, and enforce member performance against the standards. They keep us up-to-date with the latest legislation and best practice requirements and liaise on our behalf with government stakeholders and agencies.
The National Office team also run the only funeral industry complaints service. This means in the event things do go wrong, families using a member firm have some recourse.
We know there are many people who start a funeral business with the best and most caring intent. But we say good intent alone is not enough. Membership of an association body that requires and monitors standards of care is essential for consumer protection. Ask yourself. What does your loved one deserve?
For now, the simple test families can use is to check the firm you are working with is a member of the Funeral Directors Association of New Zealand.