Kelvin Davis and the welfare of children: ‘There will be a transfer of power to the Maori’

Kelvin Davis may be wondering what you signed up for.

After asking to be Minister of Children, which gives him the responsibility of Oranga Tamariki, the Labor MP had a baptism of fire last week.

Monday,
Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft produced the latest report to recommend a reform of Oranga Tamariki, urging an end to its most harmful lifting practices and handing more power to Maori.

On Tuesday, speculation emerged that the chief executive of his ministry, Grainne Moss, was about to resign, in part prompted by one of his own colleagues, Peeni Henare, whom he publicly scolded.

On Wednesday, Moss admitted to the Waitangi Court that Oranga Tamariki had failed to address structural racism and that this had led to worse outcomes for Maori.

And on Thursday, Davis had to call Oranga Tamariki officials al Beehive to explain a “disturbing” report about the removal of four foster children from an apparently loving family.

So what attracted you to the loaded wallet?

“That is why I came to Parliament, to make a difference for Maori,” he told the Herald. “And what was happening to our children, I just don’t accept that that is the way I want our Maori people to achieve all their aspirations and potential.

“I hate seeing children hurt. I want every child in New Zealand to have every opportunity this country has to offer.”

A former school teacher and principal in the Far North, his first brush with the state care system did not impress him. He won’t go into details, but said his experience with Oranga Tamariki’s predecessor Child Youth and Family was that his solutions often made the problem worse.

He did not want to outline a detailed plan for Oranga Tamariki, saying he was still meeting with officials, iwi and social services.

But he is clear about some things: there will be a change, and it will be led by the Maori. It does not agree with a separate Maori entity or with a complete handover of power to the Maori.

“The Crown cannot wash its hands and say ‘this is too difficult for us, we have to hand it over,'” he said.

“We have to be there, but we have to change our attitude towards Maori solutions.”

He added: “There will be a transfer of power and resources [to Māori]. But the simple fact of unloading energy and resources tomorrow in a group of people does not mean that we will have a better system.

“We have to make sure we plan it and plan it well … so that we don’t repeat the mistakes that have been made.”

Davis takes office as Oranga Tamariki is in the third year of a five-year transformation to change the way New Zealand’s most vulnerable children are cared for.

On paper, progress has been made since it began operating in 2017.

The number of children in care has been cut almost in half. The number of cases of social workers has been reduced from 31 children per worker to 21 children. New minimum standards have been established for state care. And the most controversial aspect of his work, the “unannounced” increase in Maori children, has fallen from around 650 a year ago to 180, although Maori babies are much more likely to be removed without warning.

It has not significantly reduced New Zealand’s shameful history of child abuse. Rates of child physical and sexual assault have declined slightly since 2017, but well below the 20 percent reduction set by the previous national government (a target that was removed by the coalition government in 2018).

Oranga Tamariki also began testing early intervention services in four locations around the country last year, including placing social workers within families for one to two years to teach good parenting practices. It is still too early to say whether the $ 31 million program, co-designed with iwi, will be a success.

Under his previous minister, New Zealand’s first MP Tracey Martin, Oranga Tamariki began to delegate more power to iwi and social services. It has signed formal agreements with five iwi so far.

In some cases, these associations simply formalized the work that iwi was already doing. And they have shown some promise.

Urewera-based Iwi Tuhoe said the number of tamariki entering care dropped from 123 in 2018/19 to just 62 in 2019/20. Whenever a Tuhoe child was marked as at risk anywhere in the country, the iwi office was now alerted and its members worked to find a new home within the extended family or hapū.

“In all circumstances, we personally know the grandmother, the aunt, the in-laws, the first partners, we know the good and the bad,” Tuhoe CEO Kirsti Luke said at a Waitangi Court hearing last week. .

“We had a case [of a] potential lift on Sunday and resolved with the baby going home. Whānau has intervened and we have been able to intervene before they become a statistic. “

Luke hinted at some discomfort within Oranga Tamariki for handing over control to Tuhoe to care for the children at risk.

“At Tuhoe, partnership means 80 to 90 percent of Tuhoe’s leadership and direction, goal, purpose, effort, contribution and donation. And for Tuhoe, a good partnership is that 20% is the Crown contribution. That is consider it fair. “

Davis agreed with Tuhoe’s sentiment.

“It doesn’t have to be a fair relationship. Much of the leadership would be Maori-driven, and the role of the Crown is simply to pull those government levers to ensure that Maori aspirations are achieved.”

Martin, the former Minister for Children, felt it was inappropriate to give Davis advice (“nothing worse than the last person who gave his opinion”). But she hoped that the new minister would continue the path of return that she started.

He also said that the success of Oranga Tamariki depended largely on other government departments addressing the inequality that contributed to children entering state care. The ministry could achieve the goals of its five-year transformation, but nothing would change for Maori if inequality was not addressed, he said.

Luke, the chief executive of Tuhoe, said that although fewer Tuhoe tamariki had been served in the past two years, reports of concern within Tuhoe had remained flat. This indicated that the tensions and difficulties that contributed to fostering children were not yet being addressed.

Some prominent Maori leaders are more skeptical of any association with Oranga Tamariki, saying the organization has always had a “master-servant” approach.

“As Grainne Moss said, there is systemic racism at all levels of the organization,” said Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, chairman of the North Island Commission of Whānau Ora.

“If that’s the case, why wouldn’t you want to say ‘no, it’s too dangerous for our children to have a long-term involvement with your organization'”?

He didn’t think Davis could rebuild trust with the Maori if Moss was still in charge, given all the negative attention about raising Maori babies by Oranga Tamariki under his leadership.

Davis has so far refused to publicly endorse Moss. When asked what it would take for him to do so, he said he wanted proof of a “real and genuine” alliance between Oranga Tamariki and the Maori.

“There are leadership issues and I’m handling them,” he said.

“But let’s be clear, the changes we need to make at Oranga Tamariki are bigger than leadership.”