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Changes to Oranga Tamariki welcomed by petitioners
Changes to Oranga Tamariki welcomed by petitioners
The community action group that
brought the petition for a complete overhaul of Oranga
Tamariki to Parliament in July welcome the changes announced
by the ministry today.
“It's great that Oranga
Tamariki have admitted they made mistakes, apologised and
made concrete steps to avoid repeating those same mistakes
in the future,” says ActionStation director Laura
O’Connell Rapira.
“I also think it's important to
acknowledge that the changes do not go far
enough.”
“Our open letter that was signed by
17,000 people had 17 asks and the changes announced today,
while welcome, barely scratch the surface of our
recommendations.”
The open letter which was
delivered as part of a rally, organised by the Hands Off Our
Tamariki network, called for an immediate halt to the taking
of tamariki Māori. It also called for a complete overhaul
of the Ministry of Children, for the government to devolve
resources and decision-making power to hapū, iwi and
kaupapa Māori organisations and for an increase in funding
to Whānau Ora.
“We want iwi Māori to be making
decisions about the future of our tamariki, not three senior
government staffers who have the final say.”
Oranga
Tamariki is placing new restrictions on the uplifts of
children after their own inquiry into its treatment of a
young Māori mother found numerous shortcomings.
“Our hope is that Oranga Tamariki continue to
remain responsive and open to changing policy and practice
as the other inquiries start to report back next year.
Because what iwi Māori need to see is a significant shift
in resource allocation away from Oranga Tamariki toward
kaupapa Māori solutions in Budget 2020.”
Read the
open letter in full here: www.handsoffourtamariki.org.nz
ENDS
ActionStation
Our mission is to tautoko (support) and whakamana (uplift) everyday New Zealanders to act together in powerful and coordinated ways to create what we cannot achieve on our own: a society, economy and democracy that serves all of us - everyday people and Papatūānuku, the planet we love.
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