Child abuse a `Maori problem'

By CHERIE TAYLOR

Families are being called on to intervene when they know children are being ill-treated.
Former Women's Refuge national manager, Rotorua's Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, says families are to blame for child abuse because they are not doing enough to stop it.
"We talk about it being a social or community issue but [the] reality is, it is a Maori issue," she told the Daily Post.
"Not every person living in poverty abuses their children. It's predominantly Maori children who are being abused and killed.
"We need to say there are rotten Maori families out there. We all know who the rotten parents are in our families and we need to speak up. They are thugs and they are gutless to beat up on a child. Where is the mana of these families who allow this to continue?" she said.
"These people have abdicated all responsibility once a child has been abused. Challenge these bullies. What's wrong with saying people are inadequate parents if they are? In some cases all they are is a glorified sperm donor," Mrs Raukawa-Tait said.
Taupo's Kelly Te Heuheu, Maori spokeswoman for the Sensible Sentencing Trust, agreed child abuse was predominantly a Maori issue.
She said child abuse and acceptance of it was ingrained in New Zealand society and as long as society continued to blame poverty and other external factors, nothing would change.
"We can blame our situations but poverty is across all cultures and the reality is it is a Maori issue. It's Maori children we are hearing about."
It was time for Maori leaders to step up, she said.
"We need our Maori leaders to take more of a role and pick these people up out of the gutter. We need to put our hands up and take full ownership and responsibility of the problem. The sooner the blaming and excuses stop, the sooner we can move forward.
"This is a national crisis for Maoridom. Maori need leadership as never before."
Society was demanding action, Mrs Te Heuheu said.
She wants a children's refuge support team with medical, child care and social support similar to a hospital set up immediately, along with an 0800 child abuse phone line, funded by the Government.
The children's refuge would see at-risk children removed by police while investigations were carried out by appropriate agencies, she said.
"There are babies going through this right now and we have to act. Parliament needs to come to the party and make this a high priority. We need an immediate response. [Child Youth and Family] are too slow."
Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell said the answers lay with communities.
"Our community has the solutions to stop this scandal in its tracks. We need to take responsibility - perhaps we should all become our brother's, sister's and children's keepers," he said.
Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters is holding an urgent meeting with the city's welfare agencies today to identify what can be done in the future to prevent children from being abused or slipping through cracks in the welfare system.
"This problem is bigger than all of us. It's a national problem," he said.