Oranga Tamariki 'beyond repair' Waitangi Tribunal hears

Thursday, 30 July 2020

A young mother holds her newborn baby in Hawke's Bay Hospital after Oranga Tamariki staff tried to uplift it in 2019.

Oranga Tamariki is broken and beyond repair, a speaker has told a hearing at the Waitangi Tribunal into the disproportionate number of Māori compared to non-Māori children taken into state care.

Lady Tureiti Moxon, Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority, called for an independent, fully funded tamariki-mokopuna authority, saying Oranga Tamariki was broken beyond repair.

“I don’t see how the Crown can believe that they can be a better parent than the parents themselves.”

Despite the issue being bought to light, babies are still being taken from Māori mothers by Oranga Tamaraki. Published July 18, 2020.

She said a by-Māori, for-Māori approach would, for example, work with mothers who had drug addictions to help them get clean, and empower them to be parents, rather than taking their children.

Lady Tureiti Moxon says Oranga Tamariki is broken beyond repair, and a by-Māori, for-Māori, with-Māori, approach was needed.

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Children’s commissioner Andrew Becroft, said it was time for radical change, rather reviewing and restructuring Oranga Tamariki again.

Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft told the hearing that radical, structural change was the only answer.

“There must now be a by-Māori, for-Māori approach.”

He said multiple reviews of Oranga Tamariki and its predecessors had failed to improve outcomes for Māori children and young people.

The disparity in the number of uplifts was set in the context of an unequal New Zealand, and putting “patches on a leaky vessel” was not an option.

“It can’t simply be, any more, a matter of small step changes, of a fourth restructuring, or a fifteenth or sixteenth review.”

He said interim measures should include banning the removal of Māori babies from hospital and clarifying the role police played in any uplifts.

Family lawyer Tania Williams-Blyth, said the law was used to take away Māori land, and was now being used to take away Māori children.

Current legislation meant if families agreed one child was in need of care and protection, they were referring to all subsequent children, which was not explained to whānau.

It meant when a family had a second child, they had to prove they could provide adequate care, rather than the onus being on Oranga Tamariki to prove that they can’t.

“The problem is the child will probably be removed at birth, which is what has been happening.”

Statistician Len Cook said one in 64 Māori children were in state care, compared to one in 400 non-Māori children.

He challenged people to question if one in 64 of all children were in state care, could society afford it, and would it want to.

On Thursday, Oranga Tamariki announced in the 12 months to March 2020, the lowest number of children had entered state care since 2004.

Cook said to measure success, the number of children exiting state care also needed to be measured.

The inquiry is one of five being held after a Newsroom investigation into the attempted uplift of a newborn baby at Hawke’s Bay hospital last year.

A review into the attempted uplift found mistakes were made in how the case was handled, and resulted in Oranga Tamariki apologising to the family.

The Waitangi Tribunal hearing is specifically looking at why a disparity between the number of uplifts of Māori and non-Māori exists, whether legislative changes made in 2017 had helped, and what policy and practices were required to secure outcomes consistent with the Treaty and its principals.

The hearing will continue on Friday.