State care provider ‘in breach of Treaty’

The Waitangi Tribunal has called on the Crown to step down after a report found state care provider Oranga Tamariki to be a foundation of structural racism.

The tribunal recommends that a Ma¯ori Transition Authority be established and is calling on the Crown to support Ma¯ori to lead the way.

The tribunal’s Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry Report, released yesterday, said the state care provider had poor cultural understanding and has created distrust throughout the care and protection system. Five inquiries were launched against Oranga Tamariki under former chief executive Grainne Moss’ leadership, when social workers repeatedly tried to uplift a Ma¯ori baby from hospital despite the mother’s objection. The probes included an internal review, inquiries by Wha¯nau Ora, the Chief Ombudsman, the Children’s Commissioner and the Waitangi Tribunal.

This led to Moss’ resignation this year, which Ma¯ori political leaders Kelvin Davis and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said was “the right thing to do”.

The tribunal said it was time for Ma¯ori to “reclaim their space” to make decisions in what was best suited for tamariki Ma¯ori, and that the Crown stepped back from making “further intrusion”.

The Children’s Commissioner and Assistant Ma¯ori Commissioner said the inquiry outlined the failure of Oranga Tamariki and its current approach to protect Ma¯ori children.

“The tribunal’s comprehensive report is the latest evidence that the state care and protection system is not working for Ma¯ori and must be completely transformed,” Children’s Commissioner Judge Andrew Becroft said.

Becroft said a “for Ma¯ori, by Ma¯ori” approach is a “once-ina-generation opportunity to get it right for mokopuna and wha¯nau Ma¯ ori”.

“We urge the Government to take it.”

“The ‘child rescue’ model inherited by Oranga Tamariki has for decades failed to work for mokopuna Ma¯ori, and it never will.

“Too often it has severed the links between mokopuna and their wha¯nau, hapu¯ and iwi, damaging their lifelong connections, identity and wellbeing.”

The tribunal said there was “a pressing national issue for many Ma¯ori and there is a risk of significant and irreversible prejudice to wha¯nau, hapu¯ and iwi”.

The report found that before the highly publicised Hastings uplift in mid-2019, Oranga Tamariki routinely failed to follow its own policies, with structural racism at the forefront.

Ma¯ori are more likely to end up in Oranga Tamariki care, accounting for 61.2 per cent of children in 2017, the report found.

In 2018, five babies a week were being separated from their mothers, most of whom were Ma¯ori. In 2019, the number of newborn babies taken into custody dropped to 248 but were also mostly Ma¯ori.

Tamariki Ma¯ori were suffering or likely to suffer significant and irreversible prejudice as a result of the current or pending actions of Oranga Tamariki, for which there was no alternative remedy bar an immediate inquiry.

The report said the Crown acknowledged a significant disparity between the number of tamariki Ma¯ori and non-Ma¯ori taken into care.

The Crown accepted that the effects of colonisation, structural racism and the ongoing effect of historical injustices on Ma¯ori contributed to this disparity.

The tribunal said the Crown must support the transformation to come, but it is not one that it can or should lead.