Govt softens over ‘whanau first’ fight
The Government is preparing to soften its stance around controversial child protection legislation that would have removed a ‘‘whanau first’’ priority when placing a child in a new home.
But Social Development Minister Anne Tolley says she won’t budge on ensuring child safety is the single most important priority.
The move comes after Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft said the Government was ‘‘buying a fight’’ with Maori by not allowing new laws to prioritise placement of their abused children with wider whanau, hapu or iwi.
Proposed new legislation, laying the framework for the new Oranga Tamariki Ministry of Vulnerable Children, removes a priority to place Maori children with extended whanau, hapu or iwi wherever possible, if they are taken from their immediate family.
It instead calls for the decisionmakers to ‘‘consider that the family, whanau and usual caregiver are strengthened and supported to enable them to care for the child or young person’’ and ‘‘wherever possible the relationship between the child or young person and their family, whanau and usual caregiver is respected, supported and strengthened’’.
The change is in response to startling rates of re-abuse among Maori children, once they leave the care of Child, Youth and Family.
The expert advisory group – whose findings formed the basis for the rebuild of Child, Youth and Family – found 29 per cent of Maori children returned home after being placed in CYF care were re-abused, compared with 17 per cent of non Maori children returned home. A further 11 per cent were re-abused when permanently homed with wider whanau, compared with 2 per cent who were permanently homed outside of family and kin-care.
Becroft said child safety was paramount but the new law needed to place greater emphasis on keeping children within their extended whanau if they were taken away from their families. ’’This legislation buys a fight that would not be necessary if good social work practice took place in every situation. Or if hapu and iwi were always properly resourced enough, and geared up enough to always be able to provide those kin-care placements. I’m not flexible in terms of the importance of kin-care – that to me is an important starting point.’’
The controversy comes as the Maori Party prepares to doubleback on its support of the legislation, which is currently before a select committee.
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox said a child’s safety was paramount but she did not accept safety was compromised by a whanau first approach. ‘‘What the law presumes is that they can’t be one and the same thing – what we’re saying is that’s stupid. Because you tar all Maori people with the same brush, if you think that you have to make it explicit that the child’s safety should be paramount and that priority placement with whanau does not achieve that – that’s wrong.’’