They were supposed to be a leading voice in Oranga Tamariki's transformation, but claimants of last year's Waitangi Tribunal report into the agency say they feel largely ignored by its advisory board.
It comes as the Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board , which was due to make recommendations on the future of the child protection agency, delayed the release of its report by two weeks. It said the delay was because of a board member’s illness.
The delay coincided with a damning story from Newsroom where footage emerged of two incidences of children at Te Oranga, an Oranga Tamariki-run care and protection residence, being tackled, restrained and held in a headlock by staff.
Paora Crawford Moyle, of Ngāti Porou, has been a social worker for nearly 30 years and is the lead claimant in last year's Waitangi Tribunal report of Oranga Tamariki.
Crawford-Moyle and her siblings suffered horrific abuse as children in state care, both in a residence and then later in a smaller facility.
She told Breakfast the Newsroom footage was hardly surprising.
Crawford-Moyle said young people like her knew what was going on inside the residences, and the nature of its staff and culture, “like the back of our hand”.
“It’s deeply disturbing for the country to see that occurs. But, we know that it’s going on,” she said.
“These kids have got really complex needs. They don’t just get put into care and protection residences.
“Not all of these children come from the background of abuse. Many of them have conditions, disorders, many of them have historical trauma that’s been passed down.”
A day after the footage was published, Oranga Tamariki stood down “a number” of staff and announced it would begin closing down Te Oranga .
The decision comes as the Government admits it's aware of more problems at the facility.
Acting chief executive Sir Wira Gardiner said within the next four years, Oranga Tamariki would be building 10 smaller houses which would take in fewer children and staff. This would replace the four existing care and protection residences.
But Crawford-Moyle said that didn’t guarantee the issues at the residence wouldn’t just be transferred elsewhere. She said this happened in the past when larger institutions were wound down, but the fundamental culture of child care and protection services didn’t change.
What mattered was staff’s training, remuneration and the support they receive from the Government, she said.
“If you’ve not got your accountability checks and really paying attention to what’s going on there, you invite a lesser calibre of people that don’t understand trauma-informed care and it puts children at risk.”
She also wasn’t happy with how the Oranga Tamariki Ministerial Advisory Board went about engaging people when forming its recommendations.
The Waitangi Tribunal report into Oranga Tamariki found the agency breached Te Tiriti. It recommended the Crown partner with lead claimants to form a transitional authority to reform Oranga Tamariki.
But, according to Crawford-Moyle, that’s not happened. The most she said she’d had was a “brief” meeting with the Minister for Children Kelvin Davis, despite having first-hand experience of the state care system.
“Some friendly engagement and chit chat is not a partnership. We’ve been knocking on the door and doing everything we can to engage. But, the shutters have gone down.”
The ministerial advisory board is made up of Matthew Tukaki, Dame Naida Glavish, Shannon Pakura and Sir Mark Solomon.
Claimants say they don't feel heard, but Matthew Tukaki says the board hasn't been given much time.
Responding to Crawford-Moyle, Tutaki told Breakfast people who had been through the state care system had a “significant amount” to contribute to reforming Oranga Tamariki.
However, Tukaki said the board was only established in February and was given a “very short space of time” to engage with people and make its report.
In that time, the board held 70 hui, pored over tens of thousands of pages of documents and was contacted by hundreds of people who had been in state care, he said.
He said the Waitangi Tribunal report was only one of many.
“If you don’t reference one report, you reference another. Our job is to take all of it, all of those reports and recommendations … report upon report, but we've also got to find our way through a complex and complicated system.”
Tukaki said he had visited care and protection residences, but wouldn’t confirm how many or which ones because the report hadn’t yet been released.
He wouldn’t be drawn on what the board had seen, or whether it was aware of staff’s use of excessive force before the Newsroom story broke. But, he said, “everyone suspected there were some challenges going on around the country”.
Tukaki said the report’s delay had nothing to do with the Newsroom story. He said the board member that was ill hadn’t had the chance to read the final report yet, which was why it was delayed.
He also couldn’t comment on whether there were issues with the training staff received, but added it would be referenced in the report.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirmed the Government wanted to “change up the care offered” for the children in care and protection services.
However, while a transition period to smaller, family-like housing placements was underway, the residences would remain, she said.
“We haven’t been able to find alternative ways to care for them.”
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