Stop ‘uplifts’ now: Turia

Dame Tariana Turia says Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children must stop its ‘‘uplift’’ of Ma¯ ori children – effective immediately.

The former minister and Ma¯ ori Party co-leader was among hundreds of people who gathered outside Parliament in Wellington yesterday for the Hands Off Our Tamariki protest.

They handed over a petition with more than 17,000 signatures to Green Party children’s spokesperson Marama Davidson, calling for the Government to stop ‘‘stealing Ma¯ ori children’’.

Turia said the state taking Ma¯ ori children from their families had been happening since the days of colonisation.

‘‘Why am I here? Because I believe in our people. The thickest issue that’s here today is the fact that the state thinks it’s OK to place children outside of their genealogical links.

‘‘Give them back to where their whakapapa lies. That’s where they should be.’’

The protest was triggered in part after the attempted uplift of a child in Hawke’s Bay that resulted in Oranga Tamariki conducting an internal inquiry.

Turia, who said she was taken from her own mother at birth and placed with other family members, called for an immediate stop to the uplifts.

‘‘I hope that Parliament is going to take us very seriously because it is the first time that I have heard people at home talk about taking action.’’

Midwife Korina Vaughn has witnessed some of these uplifts, and described them as heartbreaking.

‘‘I don’t know if you’ve heard a wailing mother who’s lost a baby. It’s the same sound,’’ she told Stuff.

She said some families had worked with Oranga Tamariki to ensure they kept their children, only to have them taken away.

The system was ‘‘setting our wha¯ nau up for failure’’, she said.

Jean Te Huia, another midwife, mirrored these sentiments and said women, mothers, grandmothers, and wha¯ nau have ‘‘to stand up for our babies’’.

Vaughn and Te Huia were joined by hundreds of placardwielding protesters who gathered on the steps of Parliament.