November 12, 2019
Oranga Tamariki unsaveable says Whanau Ora head
The chair of the North Island Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency is calling for the sacking of the head of Oranga Tamariki and the Minister for Children.
Merepeka Raukawa Tait says an internal review into the attempted uplift in May of a baby from Hawke’s Bay Hospital uncovered a raft of systemic flaws, but the response of Children’s Minister Tracy Martin and Oranga tamariki CEO Grainne Moss is to blame their own social workers’ frontline practices.
She says it’s clear the transition from Child Youth and Family to Oranga Tamariki hasn’t worked.
"The department needs to go, and we can dance around this decision for as long as we like, the Government can say 'we can get a new chief executive or whatever,' that is not going to fix these problems. They are inherent, they are inculcated into the minds of social workers that work in that place, nothing good will come of this department, that is the reality and the Government needs to do something about it, because these are Màori families we’re saying no more," Mrs Raukawa Tait says.
She says the Family Court also needs to be held to account for consistently rubber stamping uplift orders without questioning whether whànau had been properly consulted or treated fairly.
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