Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign today was principled.

“The issues facing Oranga Tamariki are beyond individual people or personalities and are structural. State decision about and for Māori families can’t continue in its present form.

“As our office showed in our recent review of the care of protection of pēpi Maori* there needs to be a total transformation of the statutory care and protection system to a by Māori for Māori approach. This could include a restructure of Oranga Tamariki including a new leadership model that embodies true partnership under Te Tiriti. This resignation needs to be seen as the opportunity for that reset.

“Our review showed what Māori have been saying for decades, that for their wellbeing tamariki and pēpi Māori deserve to be both safe, and in the care of their wider whānau – it’s not one or the other.”

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