Māori midwife Jean Te Huia, who helped shed light on the controversial uplift practice, was still sceptical about what changes would follow Oranga Tamariki's latest review. Photo / Te Ao Māori News
Māori midwife Jean Te Huia, who helped shed light on the controversial uplift practice, was still sceptical about what changes would follow Oranga Tamariki's latest review. Photo / Te Ao Māori News
A_14101020HBTPTrangi.JPG The late Des Ratima, who passed away in Whakatu last month, would have been proud of his contribution to ending the uplift practice, fellow advocate Jean Te Huia said. Photo / NZME
By Gianina Schwanecke
Oranga Tamariki plans to end the controversial uplifting of children from their families, following adamning review of its practices.
But the Māori midwife at the centre of the attempted Hastings uplift who brought scrutiny to the practice says it's unlikely "anything will change anytime soon".
The Government has accepted all 25 recommendations to "fix" Oranga Tamariki, produced by a panel of some of the agency's strongest critics. Minister Kelvin Davis accepted that "the system is broken", though he emphasised the people who worked there were not.
"This report will end uplifts as we have known them," Davis said.
Recommendations include stopping the majority of child uplifts, or without notice orders, instead occurring only when all avenues with community and whānau have been exhausted.
More strategic direction from the agency was proposed, as well as decision-making and resources provided to communities to work alongside the agency in the prevention of harm against children.
Jean Te Huia, a midwife with more than 30 years' experience, first raised issues about the uplift of Māori babies by Oranga Tamariki in 2017 after witnessing it in Hastings.
That event led to five damning reviews of Oranga Tamariki and its child uplift practices, an internal review, as well as inquiries by Whānau Ora, the Chief Ombudsman, the Children's Commissioner and the Waitangi Tribunal.
The late Des Ratima, who passed away in Whakatu last month, would have been proud of his contribution to ending the uplift practice, fellow advocate Jean Te Huia said. Photo / NZME
Te Huia said the Kahu Aroha report led by Matthew Tukaki contained "nothing new" and "nothing we didn't already know".
"The report has highlighted to me that nothing has been done since 1988 - they had the answers then.
"It highlights a number of areas where Oranga Tamariki have failed but it doesn't identify the failure of the court or justice system."
Without a wider lens it failed to address the systemic problems already identified, such as delays in families being able to seek legal advice or judges choosing to place Māori children with non-Māori carers - a recent case heard in Napier District Court was representative of this.
"We can't continue to fund children to be taken off their families and sent to foster care.
"I've never seen someone who had gone through the state care system unscathed."
She had hoped for "meaningful changes", including better support for families that have children to prevent harm to them and the children needing to be removed.
"I particularly like the fact that they're not going to use S78 [which allows for interim custody to be granted to Oranga Tamariki] unless it's an absolute emergency."
Te Huia said the late Whakatu resident Des Ratima - an equally staunch opponent of the uplift policy, who died last month - would have been proud to read the report and know his contribution to it.
Not long before his death, Mr Ratima said uplifts were: "A Māori problem, Māori solutions, Māori way."
"Des worked hard as an advocate," Te Huia said. "He was always for the underdog."
She claimed there was still "a long way to go" and she didn't have "confidence that anything is going to change anytime soon".
