Maori Party co-leader John Tamihere is fed up: He plaintively asks if he can find a solution for a young mum and her baby in minutes, why can't this country's children's agency Oranga Tamariki?
Oranga Tamariki is under fire for its most recent attempt uplift of another pepe over the past few days.
And that’s after damning criticism from Children Commissioner Andrew Becroft saying there have been "long-term inequities that Maori have suffered under Aotearoa New Zealand’s care and protection system."
The urban Maori authority Waipareira Trust, based in West Auckland, says it stopped the uplift of a baby at Waitakere Hospital after the mother claimed she was being wrongly targeted.
Tamihere, the chief executive for Waipareira as well as a politician, says he rushed to the aid of the mother and her supporting whanau to avoid the plans set by the state agency - “we’ve had enough”, he says.
He said he had seen a Facebook plea by the young woman who was scared the agency was about to take her newborn pepe.
Staff workers from Waipareira Trust arrived at Waitakere Hospital in full force and provided a video to the media which they say shows the moment when trust workers stopped Oranga Tamariki from removing a child from its mothers care.
The mother had claimed in the Facebook post that her former social worker went behind her back and applied for a section 78 uplift under the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989 because she admits she wasn’t engaging every day since their initial meeting.
However, Tamihere was able to stop that from happening after speaking to Oranga Tamariki head office.
“The Whanau Ora inquiry, the Children’s Commissioner comes out, what more evidence do you need to say there has to be massive changes in that organisation and people have to go.”
Senior Waitemata tikanga adviser Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish says she supported the Waipareira Trust in its action stopping the alleged uplift because last year her district health board said it would not support state removal of any babies on hospital grounds.
“The nature of this mistreatment has been happening for a long time”, Dame Glavish says.
“Oranga Tamariki needs to take advice in the event of taking away our precious babies. They must consult first and foremost.”
Tamihere said he found a solution immediately for the mother and the baby in the form of accommodation and support service.
“We found accommodation and also a supportive whanau member that we trust in regards to good standards for that family and we will wrap around a service around them - we won’t leave them in a vacuum or in a stressful situation.
Tamihere says this attempted uplift demonstrates the incompetence of Oranga Tamariki and its lack of consultation with iwi and whanau.
The Waitemata District Health Board said in a statement the potential separation of babies in the newborn maternity ward without agreement by whanau had the potential to be damaging.
It said that whenever possible the board sought to avoid such activity within its newborn ward.
And the DHB said it believes a mediated approach to finding solutions was the best possible outcome no matter how difficult this might be.
Oranga Tamariki's deputy chief executive services for children and families north, Glynis Sandland, says the outcome has resulted in Oranga Tamariki now not making an attempt to take the baby away from the mum.
Options continue to be explored and a decision is yet to be made whether to remove the pepe.
“We do not have a formal agreement with the Waitemata District Health Board, which prevents us from taking babies into our care”, Sandland says.
Oranga Tamariki and its predecessors have been working with the mother for some years.
During the pregnancy, Oranga Tamariki had worked with her and the wider family to address serious safety concerns for the baby.
Oranga Tamariki's chief executive was granted interim custody under Section 78of the act to ensure the safety of the baby. Under this order, the baby can be placed in the care of any person and not necessarily taken away from the mother, where there is appropriate support for both mother and baby.
Oranga Tamariki had been working through a number of options with the parents and their wider family, and had a shared goal to find a way to keep mother and baby together and safe.
“We will continue to work toward this goal, and a further meeting is planned next week with iwi and community providers to discuss how we can work together, with mum and family being critical to decision making”, Sandland says.
“If a family or mum approaches us through Te Whānau O Waipareira Trust we will be happy to work with them in the best interests of the child concerned.”