April 11, 2019
Concern for Māori children needs to be system wide
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says while there needs to be a strong voice for Māori children within state care, a Māori children’s commissioner may not be the way to achieve that.
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft has suggested a Māori commissioner might be needed, given the continued high percentage of children who are in care being Māori.
Ms Ardern welcomed the debate.
"The one thing I want to be sure of is we don't simply assume if we had a specific Māori children's commissioner, we don't lose sight of the fact it's in our everyday workings within Oranga Tamariki we need to have that focus and it's not simply one person's job, it needed to be embedded across all of our system," she says.
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