Michelle Kidd, whaea to the homeless, retires after 31 years

By RNZ

She checks on homeless people in doorways on her way to work and responds to texts for help in the dead of night - after 31 years as a social worker at the Auckland District Court, Michelle Kidd QSM is retiring.

Now 72, she helped set up therapeutic courts that give people the tools to restore relationships, and gain stable housing and employment.

Known as ‘whaea’ to the homeless and judges alike, she is a friendly face in an often daunting justice system, where she sits alongside those facing charges.

Kidd used to check in on rough sleepers on her way to work but is handing over that baton.

“I have two men now that go around all my homeless to make sure that they’re not dead. I’m very blessed with these gentlemen, they used to be homeless themselves, so my homeless people that I have served, I know that they will be safe.”

More than a decade ago, Kidd helped set up Restorative Justice conferences and Te Kooti o Timatanga Hou - The Court of New Beginnings, which writes off charges for repeat offenders committing low-level crime and helps Auckland’s homeless off the streets and into work.

She is also involved with the Auckland Family Violence Court, which directs both defendants and their victims to therapeutic programmes - a model she says works.

“The changes I have tried to make are not only individual changes but also changes to our way of doing justice. We have to acknowledge that quite often justice is not working.”

Her work at Auckland District Court has been funded through Te Rangimarie Charitable Trust.

“I won’t take government funding because I think that it is my responsibility to speak out on injustices, to find another way to do justice. Locking people up has never helped anybody.”

Kidd worked for the Methodist Mission for the Homeless, then its community organisation Lifewise - until funding for her role was cut in 2014.

It was then that some lawyers banded together to help set up the trust.

Ahead of her departure, she has set up a special award that carries her name, for people who succeed in Te Kooti o Timatanga Hou - The Court of New Beginnings.

The first person to receive the award said: “Two months ago I guess I was going through a rough patch, pretty much here there and everywhere, I was actually homeless, living on the street in a tent.

“The things I have endured in the last couple of years, the toxic environment I’ve been in, it was just taking a toll on me and then when I came into this court, walked in and seen how they present it and how they open court, it was a bit of an outlook.”

Kidd said she was proud of the award-winner for making progress and for also helping others who were homeless to get support.The person has a certificate to show for it and will continue to work with the court over the coming months.

“Now from being in this court within the two months I have my own home and I’m engaging with support workers and getting the help I really need,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing for me: having my own home. I just want to keep going forward and not going back.”

She said she was working towards getting the charges she faced dismissed.

“I’m not proud of it but these are the consequences, but then there are also blessings throughout this court.”

Receiving the first award in her name was another reminder to stay the course, she said.

“Anyone can change their life, anyone can turn their life around and this is just the reminder.”

Kidd will be moving to the Waikato town of Arapuni, where she plans to set up a place for law students to learn about therapeutic justice.

Her office in the district court is filled with photos of the people she has helped, and the artwork they have gifted her.

“I want to take my office here and put it in a room down there because I can’t just box memories.”

She has eight children, 17 grandchildren and the mokopuna are starting to arrive - and they want her home for Christmas.