Oranga Tamariki Moana custody case: Foster parents give girl back to state amid ‘unviable situation’

Oranga Tamariki (OT) says it is “continuing to work with whānau and parties involved to consider the future custody and care arrangements” of a young Māori girl who was at the centre of a contentious custody battle.

The Pākehā couple caring for the girl, known as “Moana”, has returned her to OT care because they can’t deal with the ongoing legal battle, Stuff reported.

It follows the girl’s mother’s failed bid to take her custody battle directly to the Supreme Court in December last year.

She was first taken from her birth mother by OT when she was found with rotting teeth and a club foot when she was 3.

But OT then changed its mind over her custody and decided the girl – named in court proceedings as Moana – should be in the care of another Māori family.

However, the Smiths refused and, along with a lawyer for Moana, took court action to keep her in their care.

Oranga Tamariki says addressing the health needs is "a foremost priority". Photo / RNZ

The girl has been in the care of a Hawke’s Bay Pākehā couple identified in court documents only as “Mr and Mrs Smith” for four years.

Mrs Smith told Stuff the decision to give up their role as foster parents of the girl was extremely difficult.

Whānau Ora commissioning chairwoman Mereperka Raukawai-Tait told NZME “a wrong decision was probably made from the start.

“But you don’t correct the wrong decision by adding more stress and trauma to a little girl’s life,” Raukawa-Tait said.

She said the Smiths giving back Moana to OT wasn’t the right outcome for her needs.

“But to have the foot of Oranga Tamariki and the [birth] whānau on their neck all the time, it would have been just exhausting for them. I can understand [their] decision.”

OT East Coast regional manager Julie Tangaere told the Herald its priority was “and must always be” the girl at the centre of the situation.

“Since the Family Court decision and custody order in favour of the then caregivers, Oranga Tamariki involvement has been consistent with the implementation of the court plans for this young girl,” Tangaere said.

“In prioritising her wellbeing and best interests, we now continue to work with the whānau and parties involved to consider the future custody and care arrangements for her.”

She said it was a highly sensitive and complicated matter and everyone involved was “incredibly” distressed. She said OT believed further public discussion wouldn’t help.

The Smiths gave the child back to OT because of the continued appeals and stress they faced, a claimed lack of support from Oranga Tamariki’s Napier office and the “numerous baseless reports of concern” lodged against the couple, Stuff reported.

“In the end it just became an unviable situation, especially for [Moana]. This was the hardest decision we have ever had to make,” Mrs Smith said.

“Due to the constantly difficult positions Oranga Tamariki and [Moana’s] whānau put us in instead of coming together with us to support [Moana] in every way possible, we just couldn’t go on.”

The Smiths believed they would be raising Moana permanently. Mrs Smith told Stuff there was an “absence of [Moana’s] whānau and culture in her life - despite the judge incorporating into his ruling a good amount of time for her to spend with her whānau, and by extension her hapū and iwi, throughout the year”.

She said this never happened, despite the couple’s supporting this from the beginning.

“In this respect, we felt were being set up to fail.

“How can we raise a child if people who barely know her and only would choose to see her for a few hours every few months are making decisions that affect her day-to-day routine in ways that work for no one in the house?”

Whānau Ora’s Raukawa-Tait questioned how Moana’s cultural needs were met before being in the Smiths’ care.

“That child’s cultural needs weren’t addressed by her own family three years ago, four years ago when she was a little girl,” she said.

“This wonderful family [the Smiths] provided for her emotional needs, her health and her educational needs.

“They were there at a time when that young girl needed support. The way she came to them and how she was - traumatised - where was the cultural concern then?”

Janet Mason, the lawyer acting for Moana’s whānau, told Stuff they did not want to comment on the Smiths’ claims.

“Their main concern is, and has always been, the cultural and emotional wellbeing of their tamariki – a responsibility that has been denied them by the state and its various arms. They are now focused on picking up the pieces of this colonial experiment and ensuring Moana is safe and cared for. The state has obviously failed her”

Mrs Smith told Stuff the couple were “still grieving the loss of our daughter in our home and we miss her terribly”.

“We very much want [Moana] to be a part of our lives – she is, and will always be, a child of our heart.”