Vow to take back babies
The Ma¯ori Party wants to take Ma¯ori children out of the care of Oranga Tamariki and into an independent entity, saying the current system is shameful.
The Mokopuna Ma¯ori Policy, launched by Te Tai Tokerau candidate Mariameno Kapa-Kingi yesterday in Whanga¯rei, takes aim at the embattled state agency, which has come under fire for the “routine” removal of Ma¯ori babies from their families.
“We are at a tipping point and the time has come for us to take back our rights as tangata whenua,” Kapa-Kingi said. “Our babies make up 70 per cent of children in state care and are effectively funded to stay with people to whom they have no whakapapa connection — mokopuna Ma¯ori do not belong in generic state care, they belong within wha¯nau, hapu¯ and iwi.”
Oranga Tamariki has been subject to four investigations in the past year over its uplift practices, sparked by the highly publicised uplift of a 6-dayold baby from his 19-year-old mother at Hawke’s Bay Hospital.
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier found removal of newborns from their parents without notice had become more routine than anomalous. Boshier said high caseloads and limited Ma¯ori specialist staff were contributing factors.
Oranga Tamariki chief executive Grainne Moss said it had employed more Ma¯ori specialists and developed partnerships with iwi.
More than a quarter of its frontline social workers are Ma¯ori.
But the Ma¯ori Party said the changes were only superficial.
The party’s policy would see $600 million diverted from Oranga Tamariki to establish an independent Mokopuna Ma¯ori Entity, responsible for the care of all mokopuna Ma¯ori in Aotearoa.
The entity would ensure mokopuna Ma¯ori remain connected to their whakapapa.