October 22, 2019
Oranga Tamariki uplift inquiry harrowing for listeners
The chair of North Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency says it has had to provide additional support and counselling for those working on the Māori Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki.
Merepeka Raukawa Tait says the inquiry is uncovering how individuals or whānau are marked by their contacts with the welfare or justice systems, and the system does not believe they are capable of change.
She says even if Oranga Tamariki believes it is acting in the interests of a child by taking them from a family, it seems to have no concern about the impact on the whānau or hapū.
It has been harrowing for workers in the listening posts and those doing field interviews.
"It's not that they haven't heard some of this for the first time but when they're actually hearing it from the whānau themselves and they hear the devastation, the impact of the uplifting of the children and particularly the impacts on the Māori mothers, then it's been so harrowing we've had to provide support for them as well," Mrs Raukawa Tait says.
Anyone who would like to submit an account of their experience of state care to the Māori Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki before October 31 can do it:
Online: surveymonkey.com/r/TDGDHJ5
Email (can be handwritten and scanned) to maoriinquiry@whanauora.nz
Phone the Inquiry team: 0800 929 282
Through a local Whānau Ora partner: https://whanauora.nz/partners/
For more information on Ngā Pou Whakaaro or the Māori Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki, visit: https://whanauora.nz/maori-inquiry/
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