Abuse in state care is a highly common trend. Photo / File
Willow-Jean Prime has been a Labour MP since 2017. She is a mum of two and has worked a solicitor.
OPINION:
There’s a small piece of law that is connected to decades of human suffering.
Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act requires the Government to put Te Tiriti o Waitangi into action. This is crucial for Oranga Tamariki because 68 per cent of the children it provides care for are Māori, rising to a shocking 85 per cent in youth justice.
For decades, governments took Māori children into state care with little regard for what was best for them, instilling a deep fear and mistrust of the Crown amongst Māori communities. And as we have heard in the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, this inflicted intergenerational harm on Māori communities.
Report after report has highlighted the racism ingrained in the childcare and protection system, alongside a deep misunderstanding of Māori culture and the long-term benefits of appropriately placing a child with whānau.
Section 7AA provides some direction for Oranga Tamariki to address these issues. This includes through working in partnership with iwi and Māori organisations, measuring and reporting on outcomes for Māori children and young people who engage with Oranga Tamariki, and making sure that Oranga Tamariki takes into account family history and connections that each Māori child and young person has.
Over the past six years, section 7AA has made a difference for Māori children and whānau.
Greater partnerships with iwi and Māori have shown that when Māori lead processes, whānau have better experiences, and their early intervention and support leads to fewer Māori in state care.
Section 7AA has contributed to greater whānau participation in decision-making, supported increased attendance at Family Group Conferences, increased completion rates for whānau plans and has contributed to reduced truancy.
Children’s Minister Karen Chhour and this Government want to put a stop to all that.
They want the system to be “colour-blind”. Yet, Oranga Tamariki’s own assessment of the bill to repeal section 7AA states there is no evidence that section 7AA causes harmful changes to children’s care arrangements.
Rather, Oranga Tamariki puts forward other options that would address what they see as the problem, which is individual instances of poor social work practice.
In fact, the advice of Oranga Tamariki themselves suggests that repealing section 7AA will negatively impact the safety, stability and wellbeing of our most vulnerable children.
The Waitangi Tribunal has also found that repealing section 7AA breaches Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and creates “a significant risk of actual harm to vulnerable tamariki and risk[s] the erosion of trust amongst Māori whānau and communities”. This trust that has been worked at and hard-won.
Chhour doesn’t seem to understand what most of us know intuitively – that to feel safe and embraced for who they are, every child’s unique culture and identity must be recognised.
Being “colour-blind” is in reality simply being blind to the needs of our children. Māori children in care put it well when they say that connection with their whānau is “essential for healing”.
Shaping Aotearoa into a country where everybody thrives means nurturing our children by nurturing their whānau and all of those around them. And that is what section 7AA does.
I urge Chhour and National to put an end to this bill. Work in partnership with Māori to care for our children and young people. This is how we shape the Aotearoa we all want – a country where every child is connected, supported, and gets the best possible start in life.