'This is a constant balance' - Minister of children discusses death of baby amid Oranga Tamariki uplift backlash

July 1, 2019

Minister of Children Tracey Martin talks about changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act coming into effect today.

Oranga Tamariki and the Government have come under fire for a video of a baby uplift in Hawke's Bay last month, but after the death of a baby yesterday, Minister for Children Tracey Martin reiterated the balancing act the sector faces.

From today, changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act will come into effect, requiring the ministry to provide a new range of support, meaning new national care standards, new transition services for young adults leaving care or youth justice, as well as annual reporting on improving outcomes for tamariki Māori, whānau, hapū and iwi.

It comes as four investigations are underway into the ministry after public backlash over its controversial uplift policy.

Minister for Children Tracey Martin told TVNZ1's Breakfast that today is "a really pivotal day in New Zealand's history".

"This is the day that the expert advisory panel back in 2015 said had to happen - this is trying to shift the ambulance from bottom of the cliff to building a fence at the top of it, and doing that with Māori, with Māori organisations, with iwi and with New Zealanders."

Minister of Children, Tracey Martin, made the announcement today after the incident last month.

There had been a lot of upset following a video released by Newsroom of a baby being uplifted in Hawke's Bay last month.

"I know there has been a lot of emotion and conversation, and in a strange way [Newsroom investigative reporter] Melanie Reid's video [of the incident] has engaged New Zealanders in this conversation," Ms Martin said. "From that perspective, I thank her."

But she reiterated how important getting in early to intervene was, discussing a 16-month-old baby who died at the weekend. A homicide investigation has been launched on the case.

"This is a constant balance," she said. "We need to be able to trust Māoridom to have the solutions themselves, we need to resource them and we need to support them, and that's part of today."

Oranga Tamariki receives about 90,000 calls of concern every year, but Ms Martin said "we're up to it" when it comes to improving the system.

There are about 6500 children in state care, of which about 3700 are Māori. Breakfast host John Campbell called the statistics a "dismal failure" for Māori children.

"Absolutely," Ms Martin said. "But actually, it's been a failure for all children that have come into care. There are too many children in the state's care - that's just a given."

She said the Government had been starting pilots of "intensive intervention", to start working with families who have multiple markers requiring their children to be uplifted. The sector received a $1 billion injection in the Government's "wellbeing" Budget.

Five common denominators bringing children into care are synthetic cannabis, methamphetamine, family violence, alcoholism and mental health issues.

"None of those things Oranga Tamariki on their own can solve," Ms Martin said. "We have top stop children coming into the state's care in the first instance.

"We need early intervention, and to do that we need to be working with NGOs, we need to be working in communities, with Māori organisations and iwi."

When asked what success in the sector looks like, Ms Martin said, "what does success look like for me? Is not a single more child dies at the hands of somebody who should've loved them."

During a hui on July 13, Ms Martin said she hopes she'll be be told what success would look like to Māori themselves.

"I don't want to dictate what success looks like for Māori," she said. 

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