Heneriata Milner, regional manager for East Coast Stand Tu Maia, is concerned about the future of the service and hopes they can continue providing their services to at-risk tamariki and whānau. Photo / Matai O'Connor
Heneriata Milner, regional manager for East Coast Stand Tu Maia, is concerned about the future of the service and hopes they can continue providing their services to at-risk tamariki and whānau. Photo / Matai O'Connor
Stand Tū Māia East Coast has secured a four-month funding extension to April after reaching a resolution with Oranga Tamariki.
The trust, which provides specialised support for high-risk tamariki and whānau, initially faced closure in January 2025.
East Coast regional manager Heneriata Milner said the resolution gave Stand Tū Māia more time to find a long-term solution.
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Stand Tū Māia East Coast has been given a short lifeline to April after news the charitable trust could cease operations in the new year.
Last week the charitable trust that helps high-risk tamariki and whānau nationwide announced it was taking Oranga Tamariki to court over its decision to terminate a three-year contract worth $63 million.
At the time it expected to cease operations on January 4, 2025.
However, on Friday, Stand Tū Māia said it had reached a resolution with Oranga Tamariki that provided a four-month lifeline for the trust.
The resolution means the parties will not go to court to hear the Stand Tū Māia application for an injunction against Oranga Tamariki for alleged breach of contract.
Stand Tū Māia and Oranga Tamariki agreed to an end date for current contractual arrangements on April 22.
The parties will meet early next year to discuss potential Oranga Tamariki procurement and contracting processes.
Stand Tū Māia East Coast regional manager Heneriata Milner said when she was told the charity would have to stop operating in the new year, she got emotional thinking about what could happen to the 200 children for which it provides wrap-around services.
Stand Tū Māia is contracted to provide specialised trauma treatment, intensive family wrap-around support and family therapy for about 4000 children from 1000 families.
“My first thought and my heart went straight to the tamariki. All I was worried about was them,” Milner said. “How would we tell them that we would have to stop providing the support we do?
“We are often the last resort for a lot of tamariki and whānau. If we closed, where would they go?”
Milner said the resolution meant the entire organisation had time to prepare strategies and continue fighting for the children and families they helped.
Milner said it was a relief because it meant the tamariki could continue going to the Children’s Village and not have to say goodbye at the end of this week before going on a Christmas break.
Stand Tū Māia and Oranga Tamariki agreed to an end date for current contractual arrangements on April 22.
The Children’s Village is a facility in Cochrane St in Elgin with sports facilities, playgrounds, an education space, three four-bedroom whare for tamariki to stay in, along with a commercial kitchen and resident chef where kai is provided.
There is also a team of social workers, therapy workers, support workers and an education team who provide specialised tailored support and care for tamariki from Monday to Friday for five weeks. Each weekend they return home to their whānau.
However, Milner said the goal was to find a long-term solution where the trust could continue providing necessary services and support.
“We keep fighting because this is all about the tamariki. Children are the future. If we continue to ignore what’s happening with our future, what does that mean for us? This mahi is too important to not fight for. Our tamariki deserve us to be fighting for them.”
Stand Tū Māia chief executive Dr Fiona Inkpen said the resolution provided some immediate certainty, but uncertainty about the long-term future remained.
“The agreement gives us time to have a further conversation with the Government to determine if there is a desire to retain the service and what will happen to support these vulnerable children and their families in the future,” Inkpen said.
East Coast Stand Tū Māia services the area from the top of East Cape to Waipukurau and has about 30 staff throughout the region.
Milner invited government ministers and people to visit the Children’s Village to learn more about what Stand Tū Māia does in Tairāwhiti.
“They need to hear the voices of tamariki and whānau and listen to what they have to say.”
Stand Tū Māia works with local iwi and hapū and other agencies and providers in the region.
Oranga Tamariki did not answer the Gisborne Herald’s questions about why the three-year funding contract was terminated, but a spokesperson said it was still to have talks with Stand Tū Māiā about future procurement that would be confidential between the two parties.
Last week, Children’s Minister Karen Chour said as part of Oranga Tamariki’s annual contract process, it “reviewed existing and future planned funding for providers”.
An independent Change.Org petition in support of Stand Tū Māia had received nearly 5000 signatures as of Tuesday.
Stand Tū Māia was created in 2000, when children’s health camps ceased to exist.
It transformed the 80-year legacy of children’s health camps from a universal child health service to a specialist social service, providing wrap-around services to children and families with complex needs and living with multiple forms of adversity.
Matai O’Connor (Ngāti Porou) has been a journalist for five years and kaupapa Māori reporter at the Gisborne Herald for two years.
