Crown to blame, tribunal hears

WELLINGTON: The Maori Women’s Welfare League has told the Waitangi Tribunal that Maori initiatives to reduce the number of tamariki in their care have been shortlived because the Crown has all the control.

On the fourth day of the hearing into why there is a disproportionate number of Maori children in state care, the Maori Women’s Welfare League spoke of its ‘‘disappointment’’ when the Matua Whangai programme was withdrawn in 1989, just six years after it was implemented.

The hearing aims to identify what difference legislative and practice changes introduced in 2017 made, and any changes the Crown must make to comply with Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Maori Women’s Welfare League president Prudence Tematekapua said withdrawing Matua Whangai — which had aimed to ‘‘nurture children within their extended whanau groups’’ instead of the child going into state care — had a ‘‘devastating impact on Maori’’ and contributed to the disproportionate number of Maori children taken into state care.

‘‘To have Matua Whangai swept from under the feet of those working in Matua Whangai meant that all the hard work that our members and other kaimahi [workers] had put in was redundant.

‘‘Those working on the ground were seeing results in strengthening whanaungatanga [kinship] and relationships. Our members understood the tikanga [culture] underpinning Matua Whangai and were able to effectively roll out support for our tamariki.’’

Ms Tematekapua also cited the failure of Oranga Tamariki to implement the recommendations of the landmark report into racism within the Ministry of Social Welfare, PuaoteAtatu, which called for whanau, hapu and iwi to be consulted on the placement of a Maori child.

It also called for social workers to be required to ask about a Maori child’s whakapapa.

‘‘The Crown has simply ignored these, and the results have only worsened [for] Maori.’’

‘‘. . . The Crown’s consistent failure to do what is right for Maori is due to the fact that what is required to be done requires the devolution or an equal share of authority and control of the care and wellbeing of Maori children from the Crown to Maori.

She said it was clear the Crown was not willing to relinquish power to Maori.

The Oranga Tamariki Blenheim office was referenced in the Maori Women’s Welfare League submission as an example of how a strong partnership with local iwi can reduce numbers of Maori child going into state care.

The Blenheim office has representatives from both the Maori Women’s Welfare League and the seven local iwi, and provides specialist youth services.

As a result, Blenheim has had one of the lowest numbers of Maori children in state care consistently for three years, and Tematekapua said if this model was replicated, it would lower the high number of Maori children in state care. — RNZ