April 27, 2022
Time’s up for Oranga Tamariki reform
A critic of Oranga Tamariki says not only the agency but the whole interface between the welfare and the criminal justice systems and Māori needs to be overhauled.
Jean Te Huia from the Māori Midwives Association lead an action against the uplift of a baby from Hawke’s Bay Hospital that led to several highly critical reviews of the children protection agency.
She’s sceptical of comments from Tā Mark Solomon, the new chair of the Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board, that reform is on track.
She says there’s unfinished business with the Adoption Act, the Family Violence Act and the poverty created by the 1991 cuts to benefit levels and the state housing sell off.
“We can’t say let’s fix Oranga Tamariki when you’ve got families that can’t feed children, can’t house children, and we’ve got a criminal justice system that picks up kids and puts them straight through that system,” Ms Te Huia says.
She says the government has failed tamariki Māori and it’s time for it to step aside and let Māori develop and implement their own solutions.