“How Many More Reports Will It Take?”

As the first Aroturuki Tamariki | Independent Children’s Monitor report into outcomes for tamariki and rangatahi Māori in care is released, care experienced advocates are questioning how to get policy makers to put politics aside and put children first.

130 young Māori and 1600 others who support them including whanau, caregivers, social workers and teachers informed the report, which revealed that while most tamariki Māori and their whānau have no involvement in the Oranga Tamariki system, when they do they’re over-represented and being let down.

VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai has been advocating for care experienced tamariki since 2017, and CEO Tracie Shipton says unfortunately the report confirms what the organisation already knew.

“Aroturuki Tamariki have captured the experiences and perspectives of tamariki, rangatahi, whānau and professionals which has been shared in the hope of making a difference. They have dug deep into the data that surrounds young people’s lives and tried to bring meaning to what it’s telling us.”

“Unsurprisingly, they found that tamariki and rangatahi Māori are overrepresented in every part of the care system, and the deeper into the care system we look the greater this overrepresentation becomes. The least we can do to acknowledge them is to act on the information they’ve share in a timely fashion.”

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The report also found a number of missed opportunities to intervene and invest earlier in these young people’s lives to change and improve their outcomes.

“92% of tamariki referred for a Youth Justice Family Group Conference had a previous care and protection concern raised, just think what difference could have been made if they were offered more support following that initial notification.”

“Tamariki are ending up in Youth Justice interventions because we, the system and community, have not been able to address their early care and protection needs.”

VOYCE Care-Experienced Youth Participation Advisor Cameron McKay says the report reiterates the known link between adversity, trauma, discrimination, and so-called ‘behavioural problems’ in our young people.

“I think it's important these findings are brought into conversations about the shift toward punitive approaches to youth offending. The evidence is clear; address the issues that lead to youth offending in the first place, and stop criminalising traumatised and disenfranchised tamariki.”

“The report highlights the need to invest more into early intervention, frontline services, holistic/wraparound support, and iwi and community led initiatives.”

Among the grim findings there was a glimmer of positivity, that tamariki and rangatahi were hopeful for their future, but more could and should be done to help them realise these aspirations.

“The fact that our tamariki Māori feel aspirational and hopeful despite everything is a small salve, however this speaks more to their resilience and world view, than it does the system, as these aspirations are often unrealised, not by fault of our tamariki.”

Shipton agrees, and says this isn’t the first report to tell us these things.

“Aroturuki Tamariki should be commended for their tenacity in seeking the views of young people at all times, but how many more reports and recommendations do we need before we start to see change?”

She wants to see the various agencies that work with young people to start making a difference and stop scrapping about who is responsible for which piece of the puzzle.

“How do we get our decision makers and leaders around the table to agree on a pathway forward based on the evidence of what is best for our tamariki rather than ideology or politics?”

“Something has to change.”

View the full Independent Children’s Monitor report here https://aroturuki.govt.nz/reports

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