Oranga Tamariki Act section 7aa: The agony of the untold story - Helen Leahy

Children Minister Karen Chhour's 7aa bill got thrown out last year. Why the change now, asks Helen Leahy.

Helen Leahy was Pou Ārahi for Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu, the South Island Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, from 2015 to 2022. During this time she was also a member of the Māori Design Group for Oranga Tamariki. She is now Pou Ārahi/chief executive of Ngā Waihua o Paerangi (Ngāti Rangi).

OPINION

Maya Angelou once said: “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”.

The truth of that expression was revealed in multiple ways when care-experienced young people spoke to the Modernising Child, Youth and Family panel in 2015. For many, the bottom layers of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs had been met – food, shelter, clothing, safety. But when it came to love and belonging, to intimacy, a sense of connection, the agony of their fragmentation from self started to unravel.

They told us of their grief at not being told of their kuia’s passing; the refusal of caregivers to allow them to return home to attend tangi. The inability to connect with their other siblings because “their caregiver likes her privacy”. The perpetual questions in their mind: “What is the name of my marae, my hapū, my iwi?” The empty promises last heard at family group conferences, before fates were sealed; connections disrupted.

They spoke to us about the value of knowing who you are. On connecting with the marae: “It’s like an uplifting feeling to know that you’re part of something like that; something bigger than you are.” Rangatahi spoke strongly about a desire to belong. They told us their links to whakapapa, their marae and cultural values were a strength and source of comfort to them.

Helen Leahy.

It was a familiar refrain. Thirty years earlier, in the daybreak report (Puao-te-ata-tu) particular emphasis had been placed on capitalising on the traditional strengths of the collective. In 1986, a ministerial advisory committee had been invited by the Minister of Social Welfare to recommend changes to the Childrens and Young Persons Act 1974. Their recommendations included: “The Maori child is not to be viewed in isolation, or even as part of nuclear family, but as a member of a wider kin group or hapu community that has traditionally exercised responsibility for the child’s care and placement.”

Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act introduced legislative obligations and explicit duties on the chief executive to demonstrate a practical commitment to the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi. Photo / Samuel Rillstone, RNZ

Countless reviews over subsequent decades have echoed this refrain. The Waitangi Tribunal, the Children’s Commissioner, Ombudsman, and others, have commented on the way that impacts of colonisation, such as systemic racism, intergenerational harm, and disparities suffered by Māori, have affected the way tamariki are cared for. Most recently, as of August 10, 2023, following 133 days of public hearings, and analysis of over one million documents, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care outlined the range of issues for Māori:

It is for all these tamariki Māori, that Section 7aa is so important. At its essence, the clause is about three simple concepts:

• Mana tamaiti: Intrinsic value and inherent dignity of tamariki.
• Whakapapa: The multi-generational kinship relationships that describe who the person is in terms of their ancestry.
• Whanaungatanga: The purposeful responsibilities and obligations to ensure the protection of their sense of belonging, identity and connection.

We set the highest expectations for Māori children to not just experience physical safety; but also to benefit from cultural safety; from psychological and emotional safety. These expectations were grounded in a context of accountability: Section 7aa requires the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki give practical application to Te Tiriti o Waitangi; and importantly, at least once a year they must report to the general public about how well these expectations are being achieved.

The current Minister for Children, Karen Chhour, introduced the repeal of Section 7aa bill in opposition. It was tabled and fell on the same day, July 26, 2023. In explaining her rationale for the bill, Chhour had admitted it came from her “personal experience as a Māori child in care”. She shared a couple of anecdotes about the experiences of a young girl referred to as Moana, another called Mary. She emphasised the need for Oranga Tamariki to be “colour-blind”. According to ophthalmology, colour-blindness, or colour deficiency occurs when you are unable to see colours in a normal way; because nerve cells in your eyes are missing or don’t work correctly.

The bill fell that night. Two-thirds of the house voted against it; National MP Tama Potaka, concluding “we would not repeal this section, but rather, would amend it to ensure greater certainty in social work and bureaucratic practice”.

And yet, just over nine months later; the very same bill, is back before the House. The legacy of former National Minister Anne Tolley; and New Zealand First Minister, Tracey Martin (who referred to Section 7aa as a “circuit breaker”) is snubbed; forgotten; left behind.

The specific circumstances the minister referred to – when a placement is reversed as a result of Section 7aa – deserve to be resolved – for Moana, for Mary and for Karen. But there are so many other children we need to consider that will be worse off if Section 7aa is removed. Two-thirds of all children in State care are Māori; and tamariki Māori are six times more likely to be in state care. These children count. We need to look past the myopia of our anecdotes; to create space for all the untold stories to be heard; to heed the research; the reports; the inquiries; and allow all our children to be safe in every aspect of their being. We need to see them, hear them; heed them. Section 7aa reflects their voices; it responds to their call.

The last word should go to one of those brave young care-experienced advocates, who spoke their truth in 2015 in order to help shape the legislation that followed: “A child should know where they are from, where they come from, and know that there are people out there who love them. This identity is not just where the child comes from, and what culture they are. It is everything that makes them who they are.”

Public submissions are now being called for the Oranga Tamariki (Repeal of Section 7AA) Amendment Bill. The closing date for submissions is 11.59pm on Wednesday, July 3, 2024.