Post by Kiwi Frontline on Aug 30, 2020 11:52:16 GMT 12
POLITICAL AGENDA ENDANGERS LIVES – by Dr Muriel Newman.
In New Zealand last year, Maori babies under 3 months old were five times more likely than others to be placed into state care. And, of the 6,429 children in state custody, 69 percent were Maori.
Some Maori luminaries claim this shocking state of affairs is because our child welfare system is racist. They self-servingly suggest the solution is the “Maori way”, which conveniently involves transferring to them the powers of the Ministry for Children – Oranga Tamariki – giving them control of child protection services.
To support their well-orchestrated political crusade to disestablish Oranga Tamariki and entrench race-based policies that would endanger children, the taxpayer-funded Waitangi Tribunal launched an urgent inquiry.
The Chair of the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, claimed, “This Urgent Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki should be the final death knell to a Ministry that must shut down. Its systemic failure is inexplicable given it has continued without consequence spanning generations. Now is the hour for Maori to be enabled to take charge themselves, not a Government department… Maori are more than capable of supporting whanau to make any necessary changes to ensure that tamariki Maori flourish in their home environment.”
Yet these comments beg the question as to why Whanau Ora, with well over $100 million a year in taxpayer-funding, is not already supporting families with children at risk to keep them safe from harm, so State intervention is not needed.
What those attacking the Ministry for Children are actually calling for, is the denial of the right of Maori children to have the same regulatory care and protection that exists for all other New Zealand children. By turning the responsibility for the protection of Maori children over to private Maori authorities, the government would in effect, be discharging itself of its responsibility for some of the country’s most vulnerable children.
That surely is not an option.
The ‘by Maori, for Maori, with Maori’ separatist “solution” that’s being proposed is sinister. It not only fails to address the real cause of the child abuse crisis, but it also fails to even acknowledge it.
The real problem, of course, is not the government agency – nor institutional racism or colonisation. The real cause of the Maori child abuse crisis is family members threatening the safety of their children.......
Continue reading Muriel’s latest weekly NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/political-agenda-endangers-lives/#more-32907
In New Zealand last year, Maori babies under 3 months old were five times more likely than others to be placed into state care. And, of the 6,429 children in state custody, 69 percent were Maori.
Some Maori luminaries claim this shocking state of affairs is because our child welfare system is racist. They self-servingly suggest the solution is the “Maori way”, which conveniently involves transferring to them the powers of the Ministry for Children – Oranga Tamariki – giving them control of child protection services.
To support their well-orchestrated political crusade to disestablish Oranga Tamariki and entrench race-based policies that would endanger children, the taxpayer-funded Waitangi Tribunal launched an urgent inquiry.
The Chair of the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency, Merepeka Raukawa-Tait, claimed, “This Urgent Inquiry into Oranga Tamariki should be the final death knell to a Ministry that must shut down. Its systemic failure is inexplicable given it has continued without consequence spanning generations. Now is the hour for Maori to be enabled to take charge themselves, not a Government department… Maori are more than capable of supporting whanau to make any necessary changes to ensure that tamariki Maori flourish in their home environment.”
Yet these comments beg the question as to why Whanau Ora, with well over $100 million a year in taxpayer-funding, is not already supporting families with children at risk to keep them safe from harm, so State intervention is not needed.
What those attacking the Ministry for Children are actually calling for, is the denial of the right of Maori children to have the same regulatory care and protection that exists for all other New Zealand children. By turning the responsibility for the protection of Maori children over to private Maori authorities, the government would in effect, be discharging itself of its responsibility for some of the country’s most vulnerable children.
That surely is not an option.
The ‘by Maori, for Maori, with Maori’ separatist “solution” that’s being proposed is sinister. It not only fails to address the real cause of the child abuse crisis, but it also fails to even acknowledge it.
The real problem, of course, is not the government agency – nor institutional racism or colonisation. The real cause of the Maori child abuse crisis is family members threatening the safety of their children.......
Continue reading Muriel’s latest weekly NZCPR newsletter here > www.nzcpr.com/political-agenda-endangers-lives/#more-32907