A state abuse survivor and advocate has described the latest report on Oranga Tamariki as “flat”, “flaccid” and “poorly put together”, believing it has completely ignored the Waitangi Tribunal’s recommendations.
Paora Moyle was one of the lead claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal report into Oranga Tamariki, but told Breakfast on Thursday morning the latest report, the 19th on the agency, failed to acknowledge the situation.
“I’m disappointed. I read the report yesterday and it was flat for me, flaccid,” Moyle said.
“It completely ignores the Waitangi Tribunal’s two recommendations; for Oranga Tamaraki to separate out from a Māori way of going forward and the Crown’s step back and a transition of authority be created with lead claimants at the table.”
Moyle and her siblings suffered abuse in state care where they spent almost their entire childhood, leading Moyle to become a social worker herself for almost 30 years.
It’s those experiences that Moyle believes needs to be introduced to Oranga Tamariki to ensure the agency acts in the best interest of those in need.
“The lead claimants are the ones that have travelled the system, that have gone through social work -they know where change needs to occur.
“I believe this report has completely ignored many, many voices that contributed to the Waitangi Tribunal.”
The report found the Crown had assumed the lead role around supporting children "without really knowing how to be effective" and undermined the role of communities, particularly of hapū and iwi, the report read.
The three overarching recommendations were to strengthen Māori and community responsibility and authority, clarify the purpose of Oranga Tamariki and reinforce the focus on social work, and that a national Oranga Tamariki Governance Board should be established to ensure the changes.
The report found that the social workers were under significant pressure, the needs of tamariki Māori and whānau were not well served by the current system and that coming into even brief contact with the system reinforce and cause further damage to "already vulnerable and hurt tamariki and their whānau".
It recommended Governance Board had mandate, capacity, and capability to ensure collective government accountability.
However, Moyle said these recommendations don’t and won’t fix the situation.
“A patronising pat on the back and a bit of chit-chat is not engaging, that is not partnership” she said.
“It’s treating one as [having] the power and the other ones [needing] to be fixed and are not trusted enough or expert enough.
“This report tells me that it is poorly put together and those people that were around the table and given a task to come up with this interim report, they are not experts on social work practice.
"The industry it has created on the backs of our tamariki for several generations and that’s not being reflected in this report.
“I got to page 12 and said ‘this is not fit for purpose’.”
Moyle said a “by Māori, for Māori” approach is what is needed.
“Māori want to be able to look after their own and they’re already doing it. We were supposed to devolve Oranga Tamaraki, not strengthen them,” she said.
“We need to strengthen whānau and have faith in them.”
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