Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, 55 Lambton Quay, Wellington, New Zealand.
Child Abuse Negl. 2024 Feb;148:106392. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106392. Epub 2023 Aug 11.
The Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system consistently fails Māori (Aotearoa New Zealand's Indigenous peoples), with recent reports calling for fundamental changes. Those longer-term shifts are necessary, but short-term changes are also needed. One such change is a shift in the way child protection decisions are made, and the ways in which tamariki (children) and whānau (families) are involved in those processes.
This research sought to explore the views of a small group of Māori people with experience of the child protection system on one overarching question, "how should decisions about the safety and wellbeing of tamariki Māori be made, and what role should whānau and tamariki themselves play in that process?"
PARTICIPANTS, METHOD AND SETTING: Eight semi-structured interviews were conducted, seven of which were in person and one of which took place online. All participants were Māori, and all of them had involvement with the child protection system in either a personal or a professional capacity. Two of the participants were young people themselves.
Three overarching themes were identified: that the voices of tamariki, whānau and kaimahi (professionals) all have a place, but the current system doesn't strike the right balance, that the value of tikanga (Māori cultural values and practices) cannot be understated, but care is needed for whānau who may not know that tikanga, and that the challenges experienced by whānau in this context are often intergenerational. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for law and policy.
新西兰的儿童保护系统一直未能保护毛利人（新西兰的原住民），最近的报告呼吁进行根本性的变革。这些长期变革是必要的，但也需要短期变革。其中一个变革是改变儿童保护决策的方式，以及儿童和家庭参与这些过程的方式。
本研究旨在探讨一小群有儿童保护系统经验的毛利人的观点，他们围绕一个总问题进行探讨，“应该如何做出关于毛利儿童安全和福祉的决定，家庭和儿童本身应该在这个过程中扮演什么角色？”
参与者、方法和地点：进行了八次半结构化访谈，其中七次是面对面的，一次是在线进行的。所有参与者都是毛利人，他们都以个人或专业身份参与了儿童保护系统。其中两名参与者是年轻人。
确定了三个总体主题：儿童、家庭和专业人员的声音都有一席之地，但现行制度没有找到正确的平衡；毛利文化价值观和实践的重要性不容忽视，但需要关注那些可能不了解毛利文化价值观的家庭；家庭在这种情况下所面临的挑战往往是代际的。本文最后讨论了对法律和政策的影响。
