Summarised by Centrist
An iwi-run youth justice initiative in Palmerston North is being hailed as a model for reform, with reoffending rates far lower than the government’s boot camp trial.
While seven out of ten participants in the government’s $5 million military-style trial reoffended, Te Oranga Pai reports only around 20 per cent of its rangatahi doing so.
Rangitāne o Manawatū’s Te Oranga Pai works with young offenders and their families to address the roots of offending through health, housing, and whānau support rather than punishment.
Social worker Kristina Suafo’a, who leads a team known as the Aunties, says they aim to “bring the whānau back together” and treat every participant “like they’re our own kids.”
Her team organises activities such as community car washes to help youths repay victims and learn responsibility. The programme is run alongside Oranga Tamariki, police, and the Ministry of Justice to keep young people out of the justice system.
Rangitāne chief executive Wayne Blissett says the difference between the two systems is clear: “The boot camp is a containment approach. Ours is a therapeutic approach.”
Blissett says the programme’s focus on healing and family engagement is key to breaking cycles of harm. “We have to do something better and different. We need to respond to the aspirations of those young people to be good citizens,” he said.
Blissett also contributed to a recent Independent Children’s Monitor report that found Māori youth are over-represented in state care. “What we need is the resources and the trust to get in with whānau sooner, better, faster.”
Suafo’a said that Māori children “get seen and dealt with differently to other children. That’s a fact.”
Following the results, Oranga Tamariki has asked Rangitāne to help design the next boot camp intake, potentially integrating the iwi’s whānau-first methods into government youth justice programmes.
Editor’s note: The comparison between Te Oranga Pai and the government’s boot camp should be treated cautiously. The iwi programme is an early-intervention and diversion model aimed at keeping youth out of the justice system, while the boot camp trial involved youths already in state custody for serious or repeat offending. Available reporting makes it unclear if their populations, timeframes, and outcome measures are directly comparable. Without additional information, the 20% versus 70% reoffending figures may be overstated.
