By VANESSA BIDOIS Maori issues reporter
A small but growing number of at-risk Maori children are being placed in iwi (tribal) custody in an unprecedented move for the Government's social services department.
In the most recent development, the Family Court last week placed five foster children aged between 14 months and 7 years in the custody of the Hauraki Maori Trust Board chief executive, Sam Napia.
A Bay of Plenty iwi, Ngati Ranginui, has also received approval to take full care of its descendants.
A spokesman for Child, Youth and Family Services, Ken Rand, said the care and protection placement orders were usually made in the name of the services' chief executive.
The custody orders granted to the Paeroa-based Hauraki board were among the first in the country but only a handful of Maori children were in iwi care, Mr Rand said.
A further 200 Maori youngsters were still in the department's custody but their plans and orders were managed by approved iwi social service providers.
"This is another step in the deepening of the relationship that we have had with iwi and Maori social service providers," he said.
"These are ground-breaking decisions and ground-breaking work but I think it is very timely and appropriate."
Associate Social Services Minister Tariana Turia, who has accused the service of mistrusting iwi networks when it came to finding foster placings, said yesterday that the lives of hundreds of young people had often been made worse by the intervention of bureaucrats.
Some children had been sexually and physically abused, she said. Others had died.
"I do not believe that any children should have their guardianship in the hands of strangers ...
"I guess the final issue is whether they [the service] can trust hapu [subtribes] and iwi organisations to develop criteria and quality standards that are based within an indigenous framework."
Mr Napia said the Hauraki board's social services arm, Tu Awhina, was the best group to care for young tribal members. "The good news is that for the first time in New Zealand history, the Crown has agreed."
Tu Awhina social worker Kevin O'Kane said the parents, guardians and caregivers of Maori foster children were consulted when their cases came up for review.
Mr O'Kane said it had taken two years to develop the scheme and while Tu Awhina could never predict how clients would react, it would take responsibility should anything go wrong.
"We offer a really different and good alternative," he said.
"It is about giving Maori kids and parents an option which they did not have before."
Former Principal Youth Court Judge Mick Brown, who is investigating how the department places at-risk children with caregivers, said he was unable to comment on the initiative.
"I am doing this review at the moment [and] ... one of the issues that I am looking at is the iwi social services."
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