‘Bad’ tag on babies of M¯aori

Mothers of Ma¯ori babies were told their children were better off being adopted into white families than living with them, an inquiry into historical abuse has heard.

Dr Alison Green gave evidence in Auckland yesterday at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.

It is inquiring into what happened to children, young people and vulnerable adults in state care between 1950 and 1999.

Green was 10 days old when she was taken from her mother in 1958. Like other Ma¯ ori babies at that time, she was labelled a ‘‘bad’’ baby and adopted to a white family, she said. Her adopted parents were told to say she had a ‘‘touch of Spanish’’ to account for her dark skin and that her birth parents did not want her.

Green said Ma¯ ori babies were still being taken from their birth families by the state.

Their removal was underpinned by racist attitudes, including a misbelief European values were superior to Ma¯ori values, she said. If non-Ma¯ori babies were removed at the same rates there would be a public outcry.

‘‘But because we are Ma¯ori, that has happened with very little interruption until recently.’’

Green was born to a Pa¯keha¯ mother and a Ma¯ ori father. During their first year of dating, Green’s mother fell pregnant and she was told her child would have ‘‘better outcomes if she lived as a Pa¯keha¯ child instead of a Ma¯ori child’’. At 21 years old, Green was able to access her adoption file and track down her parents.

Her mother had suffered greatly following the adoption. Green’s father had died at 31. Doctor Rawiri WaretiniKarena also gave evidence at the tribunal about the ongoing impact of colonisation.

Domestic violence and child abuse were not a part of Ma¯ori culture pre-colonisation, he said.