Oranga Tamariki - New Zealand's Ministry of Children - says it has been making plans for the Phillips children since they went missing with their father four years ago.

Tom Phillips and his children - Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9 - had been missing for almost four years, with only a few occasional sightings.

Yesterday morning, Phillips, who was with one of his children, was shot by police after breaking into a store in Piopio.

It was one of Phillips' children that alerted police to the firearms at the campsite where they were staying.

Oranga Tamariki said it had been working alongside our police for four years in preparation for the children being found.

"We have a plan in place," Warwick Morehu, Tamariki and Whānau Services Regional Commissioner Waikato and Bay of Plenty, sa

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