April 28, 2023
Kahungunu brings whanau voice to child protection
Ngāti Kahungunu Iwi Incorporated hopes a new relationship with Oranga Tamariki will prevent the trauma of child uplift in its rohe.
Te Ara Mātua was launched at Waipatu Marae in Hastings this week – with Minister for Children, Kelvin Davis, and Oranga Tamariki boss Chappie Te Kani in attendance.
Ngati Kahungunu chief executive Chrissie Hape says after the outcry over an attempted uplift from Hawke’s Bay Hospital in 2019, the iwi sought change.
She says the aim is to ensure the iwi and whanau have input at an earlier stage so better alternatives can be found.
“While we have touched the lives of whanau to actually build Te Ara Matua, we’ve still got a bit of work to do
– and the final test is to bring it back to whanau and say ‘is this what you said? Is this what you wanted?’ because we’ve anchored everything on the whanau voice,” Ms Hape says.
She’s aware of up to nine similar programmes across Aotearoa – but apart from Ngāi Tahu and Waikato-Tainui they ar still at the service design phase.