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Hobson’s Pledge Trust
Oranga Tamariki and the iwi of a traumatised and neglected Maori girl want her removed from the care of a non-Maori couple who have provided her with a safe, healthy, loving environment for nearly three years because “her cultural needs are unmet”.
Over the past week in the Family Court in Napier, the circumstances that led to this battle were laid out in detail. See Cultural needs unmet
The child, one of four siblings, had been removed from her mother three times in her first three years. Her mother was pregnant with a fifth child when she and her elder brother were removed from her care.
She was placed with a couple in rural Hawke’s Bay, in September 2018, after Oranga Tamariki could not find a suitable or available Maori family to take her.
The girl came with rotten teeth, she had an untreated club foot, and she appeared traumatised.
In an environment in which Maori failings are a no-go zone, who is going to criticise the iwi for racism? Who is going to criticise the parents who failed this child in the first place?
This sad case shows what happens when culture overrides humanity.
More should question the idea that Maori children can only be saved by whanau, hapu or iwi.
This is the same condescending attitude as suggesting Maori need to go back to traditional ways. Non-Maori never go back to their traditional ways because they know they don’t work.
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