Te Rito o Te Harakeke: Decolonising Child Protection Policy - Presentation at the 2022 International Indigenous Research Conference

Tamariki Māori are over-represented in the Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system, a long-standing problem which has its roots in the impacts of colonisation. The issue has come to a head in recent years, with a report from the Waitangi Tribunal in 2021, ‘He Pāharakeke, He Rito Whakakīkīnga Whāruarua’, finding that the government had breached the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi/The Treaty of Waitangi in relation to child protection. Drawing on my recently-completed PhD research, this presentation will focus on this topic, with a particular focus on child protection policy. Between 1988 and 2021 there were at least 13 major reviews of the child protection system, with six of those coming within the last three years alone. I analyse those reviews with a view to identifying what has changed, what must still change, and how systems designed to support tamariki and whānau Māori can escape this cycle of almost-continuous review. There is a sharp distinction between the findings of the six most recent reviews, with three of them concluding that the necessary changes are best achieved within the current system, and the other three recommending a far more substantial overhaul, as part of a shift towards a ‘by Māori, for Māori’ system grounded in rangatiratanga. I argue that if the child protection system is to ever meet the needs of Māori it is the latter of these options which must prevail. Systems designed to support tamariki and whānau Māori must be grounded in tikanga Māori. Crucially, they must address not only the needs of those individual tamariki and whānau, but also the wider restoration of tikanga in Aotearoa New Zealand generally. A decolonisation framework helps to highlight the wider changes that are necessary to improve outcomes for Māori generally, while also highlighting what must change within the child protection system itself. I outline six tikanga Māori principles which I believe can be central to a decolonised child protection system – mana, rangatiratanga, wānanga, whakapapa, whanaungatanga and whānau. I analyse the ways in which those principles could shift child protection policy and provide examples of what reform might look like. In this sense my presentation addresses the theme of Pae Ora, in seeking to improve outcomes for tamariki and whānau Māori, while also addressing Pae Ahurei, by proposing a uniquely indigenous framework which could give effect to broader aspirations regarding Māori self-determination. I believe that finding a way to uphold both of those short-term and longer-term goals is what will ultimately make the biggest difference for Māori. The longer-term changes required are fundamental, and the child protection system can perhaps be a place to start.