Human barricade to stop baby uplifts
Dozens of people set up a human barricade outside an Auckland hospital to stop two newborn babies from being uplifted from their mothers into state care yesterday.
The women, who both gave birth at Waita¯kere Hospital in West Auckland this week, have been fighting to keep their babies in their care but uplift orders from Oranga Tamariki threatened this.
The planned uplifts come just days after Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft, in his report
Te Kuku o te Manawa released on Monday, said personal accounts from Ma¯ori mothers highlighted ‘‘deep systemic issues’’ in the state care and protection system.
One of the mothers made a desperate plea on social media, asking for help to keep her baby.
Oranga Tamariki had issued an Interim Custody Order on June 5 before the baby was born and this was presented to her the day after she gave birth.
She claimed that since then, someone has been standing guard outside her room to prevent her from leaving with the baby. The woman admitted she had an ugly background and, in the past, had four of her children removed from her care because of alcohol and drug abuse, and domestic violence.
‘‘I have been asking them for professional support because I do admit I got an ugly background but this time I’m determined to do whatever it takes.’’
Waipareira Trust chief executive John Tamihere, who stepped in yesterday to help the mothers and after finding proper accommodation and support for both of them, said he had been assured by an Oranga Tamariki executive that the babies could stay with their mothers.
He said he was disappointed the trust was never brought in to engage with the ministry on child uplift cases.
He called plans to uplift the babies a disgrace, creating a stressful situation for young mothers when solutions could be found.
‘‘It’s outrageous, we had to bring 20 to 30 people out as a human barricade and it took a few phone calls to get the right result.’’
Tamihere promised they would offer wrap-around services for both mothers to support them after they are discharged from hospital with their babies.
‘‘At this stage we’ve stopped the uplifts and then we’ll work out how and why they saw fit to give orders to uplift kids.’’
Both mothers have issues and difficulties but that didn’t mean they could be fixed by ripping their children out of their hands, he said.
‘‘Every problem Oranga Tamariki said they had was resolved in minutes by us, but see we didn’t know about this. We are the people out here, a Ma¯ori community is not a contact or consulted to see whether we can put together a system.
‘‘If we thought for one moment any of those babies were at risk, we would agree to an uplift but there is no consultation.’’
Waitemata¯ District Health Board chief advisor tikanga Dame Naida Glavish said that it was unacceptable that Oranga Tamariki was uplifting babies from their hospital.
She said district health boards had made clear last year that it would not support any uplifts from any of its properties.