1Missing Marokopa kids: Sister fears they'll feel forgotten about The older sister of three Marokopa children missing with their father for more 18 months says she fears her siblings will think the family has given up looking for them. In an exclusive interview for documentary series Mata Reports, Jubilee Dawson said she was missing out on seeing her three siblings grow up after her former step-father disappeared with the children in September 2021, briefly returned and then disappeared a second time in December 2021. “My biggest fear is they’re out there wondering why we haven’t come to get them,” Dawson said. She said she was speaking out in the hope of breathing new life into the investigation. “What I wanted to get across was that my siblings are people. They're real kids. They're the ones that are missing out. They're the ones that are going to have to deal with the consequences of what's happening and pay the price at the end of the day,” she said. “It's been so long, and there's nothing else we can really do.” In December 2021, Jayda, Maverick and Ember Phillips – now aged 10, 8 and 7 respectively - suddenly disappeared from the small Waikato settlement of Marokopa, along with their father Tom Phillips. It was not the first time. Phillips was in a custody dispute with the children’s mother and went off the grid with them in September 2021. It was widely speculated that he had “gone bush”. He showed up at his parents’ farm 19 days later. Older sisters Jubilee and Storm saw their young siblings the day after they returned and managed to briefly find some peace of mind. Phillips was subsequently charged with wasting police resources, however a few weeks later, he disappeared with Jayda, Maverick and Ember again. They have not been seen since. Dawson felt there was less of a sense of urgency after the second disappearance, and was worried the longer they were missing, the less interest there seemed. “When we tried to raise alarm bells the second time, I think people were a lot more resistant. I think just because of the first time, how it was a waste of resources,” she said. South Waikato area commander Inspector Will Loughrin said the case frequently occupied his mind and an investigation team were working on the case. [Indefinitely separated] Every year, more than 11,000 New Zealanders are reported missing. Most turn up withing 72 hours. To disappear for 18 months, as Tom Philips and his three young children have, is rare. Dawson is aware of the growing list of missed moments and opportunities: Christmases. Birthdays. Education. Time for bonding and growing with friends and whānau. “Obviously a lot of time has passed and they're all going to look different and be different. [I’m] not getting to see them grow up,” Dawson said. “They're going to be missing out on a whole bunch of social skills. They're probably going to have childhood trauma from this.” She worried that her siblings may be traumatised and feel abandoned by the rest of their the whānau. “When the kids come back and when they get older, I want them to know that they were missed and that we were waiting for them.” [The plea to Tom Phillips: come home.] Chris Budge has been an investigator for 40 years and has spent hundreds of hours on the Marokopa case. He said it was possible Tom Phillips wasn’t in the bush, but closer to home. Budge said he had heard from more than one person that Phillips was “not much of a bushman”. “If he's no good at bush, did he actually ever go bush to start with? And is he bush now? “Those are the sort of questions that should be asked in a case review to understand everything that was said. And maybe another opinion might pop out with a new set of eyes.” Budge said police should reinvigorate the investigation. “What scares me is - when does a cold case become a cold case? Now, if we go another year, it's going to drop into that box and nobody's going to look at it unless something substantive has come forward.” In a statement, Tom Phillips’ mother, Julia Philips, said she wanted her son and grandchildren home. “Tom is a devoted and caring yet practical Dad who had full day to day care of his children when he went away. He is our dear and precious son, but we are hurt and deeply sad that he chose to go away, causing such pain to all the family on both sides, especially as we all were supporting him in accordance with the Family Court's rulings and in respect of all the children's family members. Our family has been (and still is) in ongoing torment over his disappearance. “We miss Jayda, Maverick and Ember with their lively and affectionate personalities and fondly remember them bursting through the door full of life. We, Tom's family, have no idea where Tom and the children are, but we would like nothing more than for them all to return or be found safe and well.” South Waikato area commander Inspector Will Loughrin said officers believed the children were likely alive. He said a team were working through a number of scenarios for where the four had disappeared to. He added: “My message to Tom is to bring this to a resolution and come home.” This story was created by Mata Reports with funding from NZ on Air and Te Māngai Pāho.