One survivor told Newstalk ZBthe legislation set to be repealed is deeply important, as it’s the only law that prioritises the whakapapa of children in care.
“Whānau means more than mum, dad and uncles – we have a wider hapū and iwi. There is no way the state can turn around and say there is no one safe enough to look after these children.”
An urgent Waitangi Tribunal inquiry is under way into the repeal of Section 7AA, which sets down the Ministry for Children’s duty to improve outcomes for tamariki Māori.
Tupua Urlich (Ngāti Kahungunu) was separated from his whānau and iwi at the age of 5.
The change is part of the Act Party’s coalition deal with National.
Act leader David Seymour said that section has led to Māori children being uplifted from loving homes due to the ethnicity of the carers.
“The tribunal seems to think that’s okay. I call it race fanaticism.”
Yesterday, Seymour took his criticism of the tribunal further after it attempted to summon Children’s Minister Karen Chhour for a “please explain” over the Government’s moves.
“No wonder some people think they’re past their use-by date. Perhaps they should be wound up for their own good,” Seymour, a senior Cabinet member, said.
That narrative is being challenged by Tupua Urlich (Ngāti Kahungunu) – a former ward of the state, who was separated from his whānau and iwi at the age of 5.
He was the first survivor to speak at the Māori Public Hearing for the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry in March 2022.
Tupua Urlich during his input to the Māori hearings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care about the trauma he suffered as a child of the state from 2000.
Urlich fears repealing Section 7AA could see the harm committed against Māori, which was highlighted through the inquiry, being repeated.
He said the reasons given for changing the law are pitiful.
“We know time and time again they place children with strangers who go on to physically, sexually and mentally abuse these children.
“How about we focus the minister on legislation to prevent the state from removing kids from people they know.”
Urlich said after he was taken from his family, there was no effort to keep him connected to his culture, leaving him isolated and without identity.
During the abuse hearing, he told commissioners that his early years with whānau were the best of his childhood.
It was only when he was placed with non-kin caregivers the “gates of hell” opened.
He said he was a child at the mercy of a monster, and shared how the stranger chosen by Child, Youth and Family (now Oranga Tamariki) to be his caregiver beat him nearly every day, for months.
But Urlich said what hurt most was being ripped away from his whānau.
He said he’s still going through the process of regathering his te reo Māori knowledge and his cultural history.
“It’s going to take generations to undo that harm. So when the Government turns around and fails to acknowledge our rights, it’s just another stab in the back.”
Urlich’s story is echoed in the testimonies of the two dozen other Māori survivors and whānau who shared their experiences of abuse, intergenerational trauma and racism while in state care from 1950 to 1999.
When he was a teenager, Urlich said he received life-saving intervention from a teacher who saw how detached he was from his own identity.
“The massive change-maker for me was learning about my culture, history and heritage and knowing I contribute to the legacy of those who come before me.”
But some haven’t been so lucky.
Urlich said his dad’s side of the whānau were founding members of the Mongrel Mob, with his uncle becoming president of the Central Hawke’s Bay chapter before he died several years ago.
“They all went through boys’ homes,” he said.
“The number one difference between me and [my uncle] was that I had somebody come into my life to get me back on track through my culture. He didn’t have that.”
Now a 28-year-old father of two, Urlich works with Voyce – Whakarongo Mai, a charity advocating for children in care – in an effort to ensure tamariki and rangatahi are spared from what he went through.
Te Pāti Māori children’s spokeswoman Mariameno Kapa-Kingi said there is enough evidence to sink a ship about the systemic failings of Oranga Tamariki for mokopuna Māori.
The Government’s lawyers, Crown Law, said the move contravenes constitutional principles and that it would take any summons to the High Court for review.
It instead gave the tribunal part of a Cabinet paper and the regulatory impact statement on the planned repeal.
