September 03, 2015
Maori dimension key to CYF fix
Manurewa MP Louisa Wall says any reform of Child Youth and Family needs to take seriously the fact almost 3000 of the 5000 children in state care are Maori.
A ministerial review term looking at ways to modernise the agency, and its work has been given more urgency by a critical report from the Children’s Commissioner.
Ms Wall says National’s preference seems to be to privatise services, but that won’t get to the heart of the matter.
"The reasons we are having problems is we don't have a culturally competent and responsive care and protection CYF system that has developed relationships with those most relevant. Government should be looking at how they can better partner with Maori to service the needs of the predominance of Maori children within the CYF system," she says.
Ms Wall says CYF seems to be good at intervening in a crisis but it fails at providing ongoing care.
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