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Most memorable books of 2020:

Link to article: Most memorable books of 2020: Māori wisdom, art, anger and apocalypse - NZ Herald...

Oranga Tamariki 'will not get it right' until power sits with Māori

The new Assistant Māori Children's Commissioner is questioning how much longer New Zealand will tolerate Oranga Tamariki not providing care to children.In an interview with Newshub Nation on Saturday, Glenis Philip-Barbara said Aotearoa is "waking up" to the fact that Māori  have solutions not only for their own social issues but for the country as a whole - and it's time Oranga Tamariki got with the program.She says the organisation has had problems for three decades, and it's time for t...

Oranga Tamariki

Since the release of a Newsroom Investigates video showing Oranga Tamariki uplifting children from their carers after two and a half years, Newsroom has been inundated by stories from other foster parents and caregivers who have been affected by the agency’s practices.A foster parent* who experienced similar treatment to the family in this Newsroom Investigates video says she feels broken-hearted watching the documentary because it feels all too familiar.Oranga Tamariki placed a child into her...

‘Two wrongs

The sad tale of four young children placed 'forever' in the care of two foster parents, but after a change of policy at Oranga Tamariki finding themselves taken from their home again into a new and unknown world. Melanie Reid and Bonnie Sumner report.“I told you I’d find you a new place to live. This is your forever home. You’ll never have to leave again.”It was March 8, 2018 and these were the words of an Oranga Tamariki social worker to three little girls sitting in the lounge of their...

Kelvin Davis to

Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis has asked Oranga Tamariki to “please explain” its actions after a Newsroom investigation into Māori children being taken away from Pākehā foster parents who had provided them with a permanent home.Davis told Newsroom he had watched most of the video - a change from his predecessor Tracey Martin, who refused to watch a previous Newsroom investigation into a child uplift - and had already called Oranga Tamariki officials into his office on T...

Oranga Tamariki chief

There are strong signals the chief executive of the children's ministry's time in charge is over, just days after another damning report on its 'unfixable' failings. The head of Oranga Tamariki, Grainne Moss, is believed to be leaving the role after a year of widespread controversy and public inquiries into her ministry's unlawful uplifts of Māori children.Moss, who has been in the job for four years after suddenly departing her previous role in the private sector, had the support of ...

Social workers 'hated' no matter what -

I te tuatahi – he mihi He mihi tēnei ki ngā tamariki mokopuna katoa o te whenua nei – mā mātou ngā pakeke katoa, rātou, ko tēnei reanga me ngā reanga ki te heke mai, e whakaruruhau.(An acknowledgement of all the children in our land – it is for all adults, all of us, to protect them and the generations to come.) – Joel Maxwell, Stuff.A new Office of the Children’s Commissioner report on Oranga Tamariki calls for the state to loosen control of care for at-risk Māori children �...

Auckland Council relationships with urban Māori

There are fresh calls for Māori seats at Auckland Council, a decade after the supercity was formed.It comes as requirement for public polls when creating Māori seats looks like it will be removed.The Royal Commission that recommended the amalgamation in November 2010 also proposed Māori seats be part of the new council.While Māori seats in the new supercity were scrapped, an Independent Māori Statutory Board (IMSB) was established to promote issues significant to Māori and ensure...

Mindfulness: A tangata whenua response

Video: Mindfulness for children | Jase Te Patu | TEDxWellington - YouTubeLink to the website: Home | M3 Mindfulness for Children...

'It's time to have a courageous conversation with Māori'

A new draft document that lays out a bold strategy for the Hamilton City Council to engage and substantially strengthen its relationship with Māori has been given an enthusiastic thumbs-up by the city’s politicians.And arguably the most enthusiastic is mayor Paula Southgate, who has hailed He Pou Manawa Ora - Pillars of Wellbeing as “a starting point for the courageous conversations that we have been saying we need to have for some time”.However not all the councillors at Tuesda...

Māori wards advocate urges Northlanders not to vote

A leading New Zealand Māori wards advocate is calling on Northlanders not to sign Democracy Northland's poll demand against these special council areas."Signing will simply mean becoming part of something that's taking away the right of Māori to have a place at the table," Andrew Judd, a former New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) Mayor, said.Former Northland Regional Council (NRC) deputy chairman John Bain's Democracy Northland's campaign aims to get more than 6500 signatures demanding a poll...

Glenis Philip-Barbara:

Andrew Becroft has been the Children’s Commissioner over the last four years and has been an enlightened and energetic advocate for the welfare of kids who are having it tough. Many, too many, are Māori, and he’s been keen for the office to have the insights and expertise of a Māori Commissioner too.That expertise and loads of relevant experience have now arrived in the form of Glenis Philip-Barbara. She came through Gisborne Girls’ High in the 1980s, married Nick Barbara and raised...

Former minister for children Tracey Martin takes aim

Former minister for children Tracey Martin says the current calibre of social workers at Oranga Tamariki is not good enough.Martin made the comments in reflection of last year's controversial video of Oranga Tamariki workers attempting to uplift a newborn baby from its mother at Hawke's Bay Hospital's maternity unit.She said the video highlighted that there is both really good social worker practice and really lousy social worker practice in this country."We've got 16 providers, there's a huge v...

Majority of southern Māori

More than half of the Southland and Otago combined Māori population can speak no more than a few words of te reo, according to Stats NZ.Te Kupenga, a 2018 survey which interviewed almost 8500 people of Māori descent, was released on Monday, and revealed that 62.1 per cent of the Māori population could speak no more than a few words or phases.It was the lowest percentage out of all regions identified with 51.5 per cent of the Māori population nationally surveyed could not speak more than a fe...

Māori Party leaders write to PM

Accusing Jacinda Ardern of disrespecting Māori by forming a government before special votes were counted, the new Māori Party leaders will this week ask for talks with Labour.It is a short walk for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer next week; out the front door of the Supreme Court, across busy Lambton Quay and up the sweeping driveway to Parliament House.But to get there, she and her Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi have come a long way.From seeking to rebuild their communities – South Tarana...

Wahine challenges Māori

Online blogger and Clinical Psychologist, Kiri Tamihere-Waititi has laid down a challenge to Māori by encouraging them not to spell out their names when conversing with customer service representatives.The challenge comes following a recent phone call she had when a customer service agent asked how to spell her last name.“Something happened to me, I don't know what it was but I said to her, ‘actually, how about you give it a go?’“How about you try to spell my name and I w...

Māori receive fewer prescriptions

Māori patients receive fewer prescriptions for the common diabetes medication Metformin than non-Māori despite suffering from the disease at twice the rate, according to a new study by the University of Waikato.The researchers studied prescriptions from doctors, dispensing by pharmacies, and a marker of blood sugar levels over time which involved more than 1500 patients in the Waikato region.Metformin is a common medication which lowers blood sugar levels for patients while also preventing 'hy...

Value of te reo Māori for all

It was part of a kōrero at the National Library in Wellington on Wednesday on the revitalisation of te reo Māori, which has been documented in Te Mana o Te Reo Māori, an interactive web series laying out the history of the Māori language from the 1200s to today, and the people who championed it.It is part of a wider digital storytelling programme, Te Tai, a collaboration between the Māori Language Commission and The Ministry of Culture and Heritage aiming to increase the understanding ...

Māori about half as likely as Pākehā to get Covid-19 income support

The Covid Income Relief Payment - which starts at $450 a week - is about twice the jobseeker support benefit, and Māori are much less likely to get it. The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) information between June 8 and August 28 shows applications by those who identify as Māori were unsuccessful at nearly twice the rate compared to New Zealand Europeans. More than a quarter of the more than 5000 unsuccessful applications were by Māori, despite them making up just 17.25 per cent of the to...

The website helping Māori access crucial data

A new website has consolidated data about and involving Māori, making it easier for iwi groups, trusts and Māori communities to access the statistics that impact their lives.A collaboration years in the making, the new Figure NZ and Callaghan Innovation website Pātaka Raraunga aims to make Māori data access easier for everyone. Consolidating thousands of data sets from hundreds of sources into one hub with tools, reports and graphs all about Māori, it’s been made to help Māori ...

Four Toi Moko welcomed back to New Zealand

A journey spanning more than 100-years – plus two weeks in quarantine – has finally come to an end for four Toi Moko (tattooed Māori heads), which were welcomed at Te Papa with a pōwhiri on Tuesday morning.The Toi Moko, which were returned from Germany, are just four of an estimated 300 which left the country between 1770 and 1840.The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa now holds about 200, the museum’s head of repatriation Te Herekiekie Herewini said.He said Tuesday’s pōwhir...

'Transformative' changes needed

Researchers who are also former wards of the state have stressed the key changes needed to ensure any Māori-run alternative to Oranga Tamariki doesn't just turn a "white bureaucracy to a brown bureaucracy".The second week of the Waitangi Tribunal hearing into why there is a disproportionate number of tamariki Māori in state care is under way in Hastings.Lawyer Annette Sykes said the treaty breach at the heart of the joint submission by claimants Dr Alison Green, Dr Rawiri Waretini Ka...

‘Walk away from it.

The Waitangi Tribunal has heard multiple, strong calls for an independent, Māori-run authority to replace Oranga Tamariki. Laura Walters reportsMāori leaders have told the Waitangi Tribunal they’re sick of waiting while the Crown fails Māori children and whānau.The Waitangi Tribunal’s Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry has heard a series of examples of “mana-diminishing practices”, carried out by an agency with a lack of cultural understanding and competency, which has led to long-lastin...

'Families are just not getting what they need':

A British social worker says overseas staff are desperately needed here and they should be allowed a border exemption.Sarah Griffin, her husband and two children are among those rejected after applying to travel to New Zealand.She said New Zealand was crying out for social workers, especially to address domestic violence and with initiatives such as eliminating rheumatic fever. Social work experts were the people going into homes and making referrals to health authorities."You've got to look at ...

Crown unwilling to give power to Māori,

The Māori Women's Welfare League has told the Waitangi Tribunal that Māori initiatives to reduce the number of tamariki in their care have been short-lived because the Crown has all the control.On the fourth day of the hearing into why there is a disproportionate number of tamariki Māori in state care, the Māori Women's Welfare League spoke of their "disappointment" when the Mātua Whangai programme was withdrawn in 1989, just six years after it was first implemented.The hearing aims to iden...