Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft acknowledges the
huge effort and commitment of departing Oranga Tamariki
Chief Executive Grainne Moss and says her decision to resign
today was principled.
“The issues facing Oranga
Tamariki are beyond individual people or personalities and
are structural. State decision about and for Māori families
can’t continue in its present form.
“As our office
showed in our recent review of the care of protection of
pēpi Maori*
there needs to be a total transformation of the statutory
care and protection system to a by Māori for Māori
approach. This could include a restructure of Oranga
Tamariki including a new leadership model that embodies true
partnership under Te Tiriti. This resignation needs to be
seen as the opportunity for that reset.
“Our review
showed what Māori have been saying for decades, that for
their wellbeing tamariki and pēpi Māori deserve to be both
safe, and in the care of their wider whānau – it’s not
one or the
other.”
If you're using Scoop for work, your organisation needs to pay a small license fee with Scoop Pro. We think that's fair, because your organisation is benefiting from using our news resources. In return, we'll also give your team access to pro news tools and keep Scoop free for personal use, because public access to news is important!