By AUDREY YOUNG and NZPA
Associate Social Services Minister Tariana Turia has launched a blistering attack on one of her own Government agencies, accusing the Child, Youth and Family Services of "downright prejudice."
She said the service's "absolute mistrust" of Maori families and iwi networks was the reason it often did not find foster placings for Maori children within their whanau, hapu or iwi.
Instead, 55 per cent of Maori foster children were placed with strangers.
But official figures show that non-Maori children are placed with strangers much more often.
Mrs Turia said: "There is so much mistrust of Maori families, it makes me sick.
"It's downright prejudice within the organisation ... that prejudice follows on when resources for the care of children [are allocated].
"As a result Maori initiatives for at-risk youth were treated with suspicion, and given less money than other community organisations.
"While the Government changes, the officials don't change," Mrs Turia said.
Entrenched prejudice was holding back precious dollars needed for Maori to start helping their own.
This was despite a ministerial advisory report, "Puao Te Ao Ata Tu," 12 years ago, finding that institutional racism was affecting policy-making, service delivery, communication, staffing balance, promotion and training at the then Department of Social Welfare.
But figures provided last night by the Child, Youth and Family Services point to Maori children being placed with family far more often than non-Maori children.
And it says it employs more Maori, 28 per cent, than any Government department other than the Ministry of Maori Development, Te Puni Kokiri.
A spokesman confirmed that 55 per cent of Maori children were placed with strangers - though most were with Maori families - and 45 per cent with relatives.
But the comparable figure for European placements was 78 per cent with strangers and 22 with relatives.
The service's general manager, Jackie Brown, said the agency had put a lot of effort into hiring Maori social workers in the past few years.
"We try to match the ethnicity of social workers with the ethnicity of the client.
"We are very keen to work with the new Government in improving our performance for Maori."
A review of services provided to Maori was under way and would be complete by October.
The director of the social work training course at Auckland College of Education, Liz Beddoe, said that, in her experience in Auckland, Maori children were almost always dealt with by Maori social workers who worked in teams.
Since the "Puao Te Ao Ata Tu" report and other studies, there had been a real commitment to employ Maori social workers in the Child, Youth and Family Services.
Child, Youth and Family Services 'mistrusts Maori'
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.