MEDIA STATEMENT

Te Ururoa Flavell
MP for Waiariki
Wednesday 25 July, 2012

Māori Party Raises question of Whāngai in Paid Parental Leave Debate

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell has raised questions around the legal status of whāngai in the Parental Leave and Employment Protection bill which came up for its first reading tonight.

“We have come across a bizarre anomaly, that whāngai parenting is not included in the eligibility criteria for paid parental leave”.

“Apparently in the context of the Parental Leave and Employment Protection Act 1987, whāngai adoptions are not 'legally recognised' until an application for adoption is lodged in accordance with the Adoption Act 1955”.

“Whāngai placements are a uniquely Māori arrangement in which children are cared for in the context of whānau, serving the interests of the child and kin group alike

“It is a very special customary practice in which the child is ‘fed or nourished’ by kin members other than birth parents. From a Māori perspective, whāngai is a stark contrast to closed adoption in which usually, the adopted child is alienated from birth parents and the wider kin group. They are not one and the same thing".

“Whāngai, as a customary practice, has endured over generations to cement and consolidate relationships for the best interests of a child. Whangai are a time-honoured way of strengthening and nurturing Māori children within the whānau group – and quite frankly I am amazed that in 2012 our own cultural practices do not fit the criteria of parenting practices endorsed in the law”.

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