Oranga Tamariki doesn’t deserve its Māori name

Police and social workers raise alarm about ‘mayhem’ and government cuts hitting kids

Police officers, social workers and Oranga Tamariki’s own staff are raising red flags about how the Government is funding youth services, saying underfunding, and funding cuts, are letting families fall through the cracks – and into crime.

Aroturuki Tamariki, the Independent Children’s Monitor, has issued its second report into the care of tamariki Māori and disparities they face when needing the care of Oranga Tamariki. Social workers, police officers, iwi leaders and Oranga Tamariki staff spoke to the monitor as part of its review.

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Key findings included:

• Oranga Tamariki responds faster to reports of concern about non-Māori children than it does to reports about tamariki Māori.
• Funding cuts to Oranga Tamariki in 2024 and 2025 directly reduced frontline services, delivering funding cuts for early intervention services. The cuts had a more drastic impact for tamariki Māori.
• The Government is putting more money into offender-level programmes, while underfunding prevention and early intervention that could reduce crime and help children before they go on to commit crime.
• 95% of rangatahi Māori in youth justice had a report of concern made about their safety when they were younger. Half of those rangatahi had more than 10 reports of concern before they ended up in youth justice.

Stuff

The deal between the self interested public service and the neoliberal political class is that when the underfunding for the welfare state is so frayed that the innocent are being slaughtered, the neoliberal political class NEVER hold the self interested public service to account.

Oranga Tamariki can’t do their job because they are so underfunded and have had budgets to visit these kids and assess them in their own environment revoked and cut.

7AA that this Government cut forced OT into uplifting Māori children directly to Iwi community groups rather than the State prisons.

ACT screamed that was race based and cut it.

Now we have the predictable.

So.

Why are Oranga Tamariki allowed a Māori name?

I am sick to death of Government programs brown washing themselves with a Māori name while implementing policies that are brutal to Māori!

I say take back these Māori names, demand them to be stripped because they have not earned the mana of the Māori language!

Kāinga Ora have shut down their public house building obligations while homelessness explodes – demand the name back!

Oranga Tamariki damage Māori children – demand the name back!

Oranga Tamriki can have their name back when they’ve earned it!