May 18, 2015
Maori invisible in CYF reform
The president of the Maori Women’s Welfare League is concerned Child, Youth and Family may be backing away from biculturalism.
The league is seeking answers from Social Development Minister Anne Tolley about why the panel she appointed to review the service does not include any Maori members.
Prue Kapua says more than half the children in state care are Maori, and over the past couple of decades the service has attempted to adopt culturally sensitive models.
She says that seems to be slipping.
"There used to be on a CYFS Website the model models the Maori practise guidelines and it talked about Mason's model and Te Wheke, Rose Pere and it talked about the treaty and so on. That doesn't exist now on the CYFS guideline and I wonder whether there is a tendency to move away from identifying Maori as a speicifc group to address" she says.
Prue Kapua says the CYF review panel chaired by former Commerce Commission head Paula Rebstock does not have the expertise to assess the structural needs of Maori children in state care.
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