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September 28, 2015
How is removing Maori children from whanau & sterilising the poor appropriate
Waatea Team
Posted On September 28, 2015
How is removing Maori children from their whanau & sterilising the poor an appropriate response to the abuse of children in State care?
I find it difficult to respond to the latest idea from National on our most vulnerable Mokopuna. CYFS is to undergo another rebuild, this is the 15th time since the department was created. This time National believe the solution to children being violently and sexually abused in state care is to remove Maori children from their extended when and to sterilise the poor.
Words fail me.
The solution to children being abused in State care is to stop supplying the kids?
There is no doubt that there are deep problems within CYFS. The lack of resources for frontline social workers to be able to ensure there is downstream support for the children they are attempting to protect and the low funding available to track down appropriate relatives from dysfunctional families are compounded by a social infrastructure that is too underfunded to deliver the care required.
That's the problem.
The solution that National are trying to suggest however doesn't look like a solution at all. Removing Maori and Pacifica children from their whanau and promoting sterilisation programs for the poor is pandering to National's bigoted voter base, it is not about holding the State to account for the appalling treat t of children in their care.
The Minister overseeing this, Anne Tolley, claims privatisation is not an agenda here, yet it seems difficult to believe that on this one issue National would not seek privatisation when they are doing it in education, prisons, disability services and state housing.
Removing children from their culture has a long and brutal history for many indigenous peoples around the world and sterilisation programs a Government deem unfit to be parents is a level of intrusion into the lives of individuals that is difficult to accept.
The problem in CYFS is a lack of money and leadership, the cure can not be more brutal than the disease.
Copyright © 2015, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com
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