Child uplifts have affected many whānau in the past, and are still happening today. Central North Island iwi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, have taken a iwi-led initiative approach to combat these difficult scenarios for their community and instead of working against the agencies they have teamed up with them.
The iwi-agency partnership which makes up the Taupō Collective Impact Government Group include eleven government agencies across the Taupō district.
It's an approach that has been led by the tribe's paramount chief, Tā Tumu Te Heuheu, in a bid to create a safe space for his community.
Danny Morehu, spokesman for the Taupō Collective, says, "As an iwi there was a strong demand for making those agencies clearly accountable back to iwi in the delivery. We call it the front door powhiri. What we know wasn't happening in the past was senior officials were being appointed and iwi had no or little input into those appointments so understandably that caused issues for us as a people."
The partnerships enable the iwi to have an input on many decisions that impact not only their community but specifically Māori whānau.
"So the kairaranga of whānau, that role is in place and here is the point of difference, the tribe had input into the job description the panel and the roll out," says Morehu.
"We have a partnership with the courts for te kooti rangatahi and so that's sustainable where we have a direct input into mitigating the risk of young offenders coming into the justice pipeline."
It has been a long process to get the Taupō Collective up and running but it's an intitative that is working for the central North Island community.
"In 2016, the ariki called a summit and called in the eleven agency heads and we socialised and shared the vision of Ngāti Tūwharetoa from that haerenga. At the end of that, Tā Tumu posed this question, 'so what are you prepared to do today that will make a difference for our tamariki mokopuna for tomorrow?'"
Now that the foundation has been set, the iwi continues to focus on strategies to sustain their vision.
"In ten years time we need to say 'yep, it was sustainable, it is sustainable and we are making a difference to our hapori'. Iwi need to be leading a lot of that stuff that is not working."
Ngāti Tūwharetoa will continue to champion the initiative in the hope that other iwi follow suit.