‘An absolute privilege’

Assistant Māori Commissioner for children Glenis Philip-Barbara. Picture By Cody Keepa

Racism, mental wellbeing and decision-making are some of the key challenges rangatahi face in New Zealand, says Glenis Philip-Barbara (Ngati Porou, Ngati Uepohatu).

A year into the new position of Assistant Maori Commissioner for Children, she says an important aspect of her work is “always finding ways to encourage the government to listen to the Māori and rangatahi perspective”.

She says the role has been a privilege and a challenge for her.

“I have come to understand in detail just how many challenges young people in New Zealand face.

“Young people and children talk to us about the difficulty in being heard on things that affect them,” she says.

“They tell us adults assume they don't have anything important to contribute.

But, “we see signs of progress across the country, where rangatahi are engaged in solving problems or addressing issues”.

“Part of our role is to ensure that young people are heard on matters of policy which affect them.”

Ms Philip-Barbara said rangatahi Māori and Pasifika faced a “high level of disparity”.

“When you look at child outcomes or any measures of social wellbeing — poverty, mortality, suicide rates and mental wellbeing — Māori, Pasifika and disabled young people suffer far more than other groups in the country.”

Ms Philip-Barbara said she is working hard to ensure their voices are heard on matters which disproportionately affect them.

She has found some of the problems are systemic.

“We have a system which has been created under the influence of colonialism which then assumes it is normal to favour one group of people over others.

“Hence, we have set out our strategic priorities this year which are to eliminate racism in the public sector, in particular where it impacts rangatahi and tamariki, to support the same sector to improve mental wellbeing among young people and to ensure that young people are properly heard and engaged in finding solutions.”

Ms Philip-Barbara said her office had worked alongside the organisers of the Race Unity Speech competition “to encourage young people to think about how we come to respect and appreciate the diversity of humanity”.

“Sometimes our office also does in-depth research with the community, like Te Kuku o Te Manawa, a review of what needed to change to enable pēpi Māori aged 0-3 months to remain in the care of their whānau.

“We found that pēpi Māori were six times more likely to come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki.

“These pēpi were subjected to ‘without notice uplifts', which means without any warning whatsoever those babies were taken into state care. And we knew this was a problem which demanded action.

“We wanted to understand to what extent this was a problem for people who were known to Child, Youth and Family (now Oranga Tamariki) at the time of upliftments.

“So our report asked a really simple question — what needed to change in order for pēpi to grow safely with their whānau?

“We set out recommendations for the Government to consider in the child protection system — a by Māori and for Māori approach, how a child might be safe with their whānau and a range of actions Oranga Tamariki might check in terms of its daily operations to immediately reduce the harm to whānau and pēpi.

“We also recommended changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act.”

Ms Philip-Barbara said in Tairāwhiti the immediate concern was the lack of food security for rangatahi and tamariki.

“People can't access the basic necessities for their whānau. Access to healthy food is not given to all families in Tairāwhiti. Part of it is homelessness — it affects the whole whānau, rangatahi and tamariki included.

“When I think about homelessness I am thinking about families who can't secure a safe rental, children growing up in motels, and people who sleep rough at Kaiti Beach.

“Homelessness in my estimation has a destabilising effect on children and their whānau.

“Also in our region, there are a lot of rangatahi who are not in training and schools or employment.

“We need to understand why it is that they can't find those pathways to opportunities. I wouldn't be surprised if that instability around homelessness isn't a contributing factor.”

Ms Philip-Barbara thinks locally-led solutions are extremely important, especially in Tairāwhiti.

“We strongly encourage the government to support but not lead local level solutions to ensure that those people who have already established relationships and trust with whānau who might be homeless are supported in their mahi.”

Ms Philip-Barbara said she loves to go to work every day.

“I have the absolute privilege of working at an office full of people who love our work — engaging with rangatahi and whānau is awesome.

“I get to see initiatives across the country which make a real change for people doing it tough. We get to visit, hear, talk about those initiatives on the ground.”