Leading from the front issuu

Affairs, there was no working with Iwi or other Māori
based organisations.
Although to some of us 1977 doesn’t seem that far
away, the world was a very different place and was about
to change even faster and more radically than we could
ever have dreamt of. There was full employment, gangs
were both small and their numbers had relatively little
influence. The scourge of “P” was well into the future
and we were yet to experience the upside and downside
of the internet. The new religion of seeking happiness
and fulfilment from material possessions and entitlement
to overseas holidays had yet to become the mainstream
belief system.
Yet in 1977 the welfare system was past its use by date.
In essence it was still based in the 1925 Child Welfare
Act. In 1989 all this was about to change.
THE WINDS OF CHANGE
In the early 1980s I was working at Kohitere in Levin, a
residence that looked after boys aged 14 — 17 who had
been made wards of the state due to their offending. By
that stage the percentage of Māori residents had grown
quite significantly. However, it is worth noting that until
the 1960s Pakeha made up the majority of boys sent
to Kohitere. I recall reading the admissions book going
back to before the second world war and there were
very few Māori names.
While at Kohitere we were visited by the Komiti
Whakahaere, an advisory group of kaumatua and kuia
who reported directly to Prime Minister Muldoon. They
expressed their disappointment that so many Māori
were in care and that the state system as it was then
was failing Māori. They were determined to push for
changes that would mean all Māori children and young
persons would be cared for by their whānau, hapu or
iwi. This, combined with other criticisms of state interaction
with Māori, led eventually to the creation of Puao
Te Ata Tu, which made several recommendations as to
how the Department of Social Welfare could address the
systemic institutional racism against Māori.
These recommendations included having Māori involved
in all decisions affecting their tamariki and that
Māori should only come into state care when they could
not be safely placed with whānau hapu and iwi. I recall
being very inspired by the words of Tūhoe leader John
Rangihau who eloquently and fearlessly challenged the
whole notion that Pakeha social workers with their so
called “professionalism” could do better than Māori with
their centuries old wisdom when it came to making decisions
for Tamariki Māori. This was the moment when
I was determined that I would do everything I could to
help realise the vision that was Puao Te Ata Tu.
So when the CYP&F Act came into effect in November
1989 there was real hope that we would work with and
alongside Māori to exercise rangatiratanga with respect
to their Tamariki. The keystone to the act was the Fam-
Artwork by Te Kura Kaupapa Māori O Te Ara Hou.
Napier Pilot City Trust – for a kinder, fairer city 151