Wai 2915, #A49
KEI MUA I TE AROARO O TE RŌPŪ WHAKAMANA I TE TIRITI O WAITANGI
BEFORE THE WAITANGI TRIBUNAL WAI 2915
IN THE MATTER OF the Treaty of Waitangi Act 1975
AND
IN THE MATTER OF the Oranga Tamariki Urgent Inquiry
BRIEF OF EVIDENCE OF HOANI LAMBERT FOR THE 7 AUGUST CONTEXTUAL HEARING
30 July 2020
CROWN LAW TE TARI TURE O TE KARAUNA Pouaka Poutāpeta PO Box 2858 TE WHANGANUI-Ā-TARA WELLINGTON 6140 Waea Tel: 04 472 1719 Waea Whakaahua Fax: 04 473 3482
Whakapā mai: Contacts: Virginia Hardy / Cameron Tyson / Laura MacKay [email protected] / [email protected] / [email protected]
MAY IT PLEASE THE TRIBUNAL:
1. My name is Hoani Jeremy Lambert. Ko Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa te iwi.
2. I am the Deputy Chief Executive Voices of Children and the Tamariki Advocate, responsible for ensuring the voices of children are at the centre of everything we do. I am also responsible for overseeing the design and assurance of the Ministry’s response to s7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act and the Treaty of Waitangi.
3. I joined Oranga Tamariki just prior to its launch on 1 April 2017. Before that, I held senior management and leadership roles with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (now the Ministry for Primary Industries) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
4. As a Māori public servant I share the drive and ambition of the Ministry to transform the way the care and protection system works to improve outcomes for Maori. I share this sense of possibility with my leadership team colleagues, our staff and our iwi and Maori partners. I feel privileged to be in this position at this particular time.
5. I have previously provided evidence in these proceedings by way of an affidavit.1 Where relevant, I have drawn on my earlier evidence filed in this inquiry.
Disparity 6. As the Crown has acknowledged, the existing disparities experienced by Maori reflects, in large part, the ongoing effect of historical injustices on iwi, hapū and whānau. Today, we see that in the scale and complexity of the socio- economic disparity experienced by Māori.
7. We know from analysis and frontline experience that the children and whānau coming to the attention of Oranga Tamariki have multiple complex needs. Many of the witnesses before me have spoken about the wide range of needs.
8. Most recently we have conducted in depth quantitative analysis2 to help understand more precisely the nature of the disparities between Māori and
1 Wai 2915 #A16 Affidavit of Hoani Jeremy Lambert, dated 24 December 2019; Wai 2015 #A20 Second affidavit of Hoani Jeremy Lambert dated 25 March 2020
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non-Māori, which is a difficult task. This analysis confirmed, as expected, that for the ten years to June 2019, ethnicity is statistically associated with differences in first time involvement with Oranga Tamariki for children in all age groups across most stages of the Care and Protection system. However, disparities experienced by tamariki Māori are less when socioeconomic and other factors are controlled for. We need to do more work to understand the more precise causes of this disparity.3
9. We are also implementing a new way of measuring disparities for tamariki and whānau Māori at each decision-making point in the system and have developed a method for measuring disproportionality. We intend to report on disparity and disproportionality as part of our annual reporting on section 7AA.4
10. As Grant Bennett discusses in his evidence, we are seeing a downward trend in care entries for tamariki Māori. The disparity between tamariki Māori and non-Māori entering care is also reducing. Additionally, for the first time in a number of years we are seeing a reduction of Māori children in care.
11. However, the Crown has a significant responsibility to take steps to address the unacceptable disproportionality that remains. Oranga Tamariki is part of a wider system that supports tamariki Māori and whānau. Partnership is required between a range of Crown agencies and Māori, including whānau, hapū and iwi, because these needs cannot be met by one single agency of the Crown alone. The intent of the Child, Youth and Wellbeing Strategy is for government agencies to work together to address these needs.5 Under the Strategy, Te Puni Kōkiri and Oranga Tamariki are leading work to increase whānau-centred approaches to improve child and youth wellbeing.6
12. Te Pūao-te-Atatū report (1986) and the subsequent 1989 legislation represented a fundamental break from the past and a radically new approach to
2 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/research/our-research/factors-associated-with-disparities-experienced-by- tamariki-maori/. The analysis was for tamariki Māori compared to children of ‘New Zealand European and Other’ ethnicities (i.e. not Māori compared to all non-Māori). 3 Link Evidence Centre analysis – ‘Factors associated with disparities experienced by Tamariki Māori in the Care and Protection System’… 4 https://www.orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Research/Latest-research/Disparity-and disproportionality-in-the-CP-system/Measuring-disparity-and-disproportionality-in-the-CP-system.pdf 5 https://childyouthwellbeing.govt.nz/resources/child-and-youth-wellbeing-strategy 6 https://dpmc.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2019-11/child-youth-wellbeing-strategy-4180838_4180837.pdf
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child protection and care that recognised the need to approach Māori families within a Māori cultural context.7
13. However, the aspirations of the report and the 1989 Act were not fully realised, particularly for Māori. The evidence for this is sufficiently laid out in the Expert Advisory Panel’s Final Report “Investing in New Zealand’s Children and their Families” (EAP report) of December 2015.
Establishment of Oranga Tamariki 14. In 2017, the EAP was used as a blueprint for establishing the Ministry. The current system was found to be wholly inadequate for a number of reasons, including being totally ineffective in preventing further harm, as shown by high rates of children and young people coming back into the system. The EAP suggested a new operating model for Oranga Tamariki including Early Intervention, Intensive Intervention, Care, Youth Justice and Transitions.
15. Upon establishment Oranga Tamariki focussed on fixing the core system architecture (children in care, youth justice) and setting up the transitions support service which supports young people to transition successfully from statutory care and youth justice to adulthood.8 Now that we have made progress in those areas, our focus is moving to supporting whānau earlier to prevent entry into care.
16. Under s 7AA our organisational outcomes framework includes an end goal that tamariki Māori are thriving under the protection of their whānau, hapū and iwi. Bringing a child into care should only be a last resort and if a child comes into care they should, wherever possible, be placed within their whānau, hapū or iwi.
Oranga Tamariki and the Treaty of Waitangi 17. Section 7AA establishes additional duties for the Oranga Tamariki chief executive in relation to the Treaty of Waitangi. These duties are in addition to the Crown’s broader responsibilities under the Treaty. The implementation of s 7AA has supported a fundamental shift in the way the organisation thinks
7 Puao-te-ata-tu: The report of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on a Māori perspective for the Department of Social Welfare (1988), p17, para 21. https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications- resources/archive/1988-puaoteatatu.pdf 8 See https://orangatamariki.govt.nz/about-us/reports-and-releases/cabinet-papers/implementing-the- operating-model/
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about how it improves outcomes for tamariki and whānau Māori. Specifically, it has challenged the organisation to think about the rights and interests of whānau, hapū and iwi as part of its core work. My experience across the organisation is that staff see this is a serious commitment that will lead to change.
Clear expectations, accountability and measurement of section 7AA 18. At a system level, we have developed five mana tamaiti objectives that embody the 33 whānau, hapū and iwi references in the Oranga Tamariki Act and reflect the definition of mana tamaiti (tamariki) by reinforcing the importance of whanaungatanga obligations and responsibilities inherent through whakapapa. We have also developed a set of nine initial measures for the mana tamaiti objectives.
19. We have five s 7AA Quality Assurance Standards to be met by our staff when developing operational policies, practices or new services (delivered by us or by our partners).9 These standards also incorporate key principles of the Treaty of Waitangi such as kāwanatanga and rangatiratanga, active protection, partnership and equity.
Focus on early and intensive intervention 20. Early intervention provides an opportunity for a whānau centred, community- led approach to meet the needs of tamariki and whānau.
21. We are working with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, TPK and ACC to co-design a whānau-led early intervention prototype that aims to support whānau to shift from crisis towards stability and resilience, and in doing so reduce the need for future involvement in the care, protection and youth justice systems. The Crown plans to do more cross-agency work with iwi and communities to support them in developing whānau-led prototypes and community planning approaches that respond to local needs. This is part of work being delivered under the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy.10
9 https://orangatamariki.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/About-us/Report-and-releases/Quality-Assurance- Standards/Section-7AA-Quality-Assurance-Standards.pdf 10 This work is being led by the Child Wellbeing Unit at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, with Oranga Tamariki working alongside.
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22. We have been designing new models of intensive support with Māori, for whānau so that tamariki can remain (wherever possible) safely at home with their whānau within their culture and connected to their communities. There are four collaborative design sites; Tokoroa, Christchurch East, Ōtāhuhu and Horowhenua where we are working in partnership with iwi and Māori organisations to design models of Intensive Support that meet the needs of each community.
23. The current spend for early intervention is $160m per year. We are currently introducing intensive support services and expect investment to reach $10m this financial year.
Building and strengthening iwi and Māori partnerships (including strategic partnerships) 24. Oranga Tamariki has a broad range of partnership arrangements with marae, hapū and iwi throughout the county. These include partnerships at a site level, partnerships through contracting, and partnerships through formal Treaty instruments, including social accords, MOUs and strategic partnerships under s 7AA.
25. The core focus of strategic partnerships is to improve outcomes for tamariki, rangatahi and whānau Māori who have come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki. The content of each strategic partnership is shaped by the vision, values and objectives of each strategic partner.
26. Oranga Tamariki currently has four strategic partnerships with Ngāi Tahu, Waikato-Tainui, Ngāpuhi and Tūhoe and we are exploring more partnerships with others.11
27. Each strategic partnership is unique and reflects differing iwi priorities to meet the needs of their tamariki, whānau, marae and hapū. We all share a vision to reduce the number of tamariki in our care and ensure tamariki Māori thrive under the protection of whānau, hapū and iwi.
11 Between 1 July 2019 and 30 June 2020, we received five invitations from iwi and Māori organisations to enter into a strategic partnership. We are progressing discussions with four of those organisations and mutually agreed with another not to pursue discussions further at this stage
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28. Between 2016 and March 2020, tamariki Māori who have whakapapa connections to our four strategic partners made up just under half of all tamariki Māori in care.
29. We are continuing to work with iwi and Māori organisations to design early and intensive intervention. We are also growing our partnerships with iwi to deliver Whānau Care. This initiative was developed through co-design with iwi and supports tamariki in care to be connected with their whakapapa and cultural identity. Currently, we have 8 Whānau Care partnerships. Over the next 4 years, we want to grow this partnership base to 20 partners.
30. In addition to strategic partnerships, we have formal agreements with Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Te Hiku and New Zealand Māori Council.
31. There are some great examples of sites across the country where partnership is embedded in the site. For example, at Christchurch East the site works closely with Ngāi Tahu and Te Pūtahitanga o Te Waipounamu across the spectrum of services. Almost every child at that site is in the care of their whānau, they are designing intensive intervention with Ngāi Tahu and they work together with Te Pūtahitanga on ensuring whānau have support available early.
32. Together with iwi and the Māori Women’s Welfare League (MWWL), the Oranga Tamariki Blenheim site has designed a Māori model of care which is collaborative and sees iwi and Māori involvement across care decisions for mokopuna Māori, including identifying kaitiaki (caregivers). A dedicated kaiarahi role supports kaitiaki by working across iwi, marae and the MWWL to help maintain connections. They also provide specialist training to ensure kaitiaki are well equipped to meet the needs of mokopuna in their care. The site has also developed a number of other Māori specialist roles with iwi. These kaimahi support Oranga Tamariki staff to work in a bicultural way, facilitate whānau-led hui and FGC for mokopuna Māori, ensure wide whānau participation and undertake whakapapa research.
Working towards a more equitable and effective commissioning/procurement process 33. Oranga Tamariki contracts with 143 iwi and Māori providers to deliver services to tamariki and whānau. In the financial year ending 30 June 2020, iwi and
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Māori providers received 23.4 percent of Oranga Tamariki investment in social services. This is an increase of 30.2 percent on the previous year spend.
34. We have been working on new contracting frameworks, including funding, contracting, and quality assurance processes to support greater flexibility in the provision of care, the devolution of more responsibilities in care and iwi and Māori organisations to hold custody and guardianship. In the last three years we have significantly increased the funding for iwi and Māori organisations delivering care, addressing long-standing inequities in funding. We have established a costing model for care aligned to the true cost of care based on four levels of support: this model would allow for full devolution of care. We are working to create frameworks which allow more flexibility in different approaches care partners take to deliver care, including Te Ao Māori models, by being less prescriptive around specific activities and focusing more on outcomes and experiences of tamariki and caregivers within contractual service specifications and quality assurance. For example, the proposed new specifications for Whānau Care recognise the unique role Whānau Care partners play in caring for their own mokopuna and particularly the lead role they play in needs assessments and provision of support for cultural identity and whānau connection.
35. We have also changed our approach to commissioning or procuring social services to better reflect what our partners tell us they want to see. This includes:
35.1 using collaborative rather than competitive processes and in some cases, making joint procurement decisions with strategic, local or agency partners;
35.2 applying a strengths and values-based approach, and giving extra weight to those who are able to meet, and report on their achievements to deliver on, the mana tamaiti objectives; and
35.3 building capability of iwi/Māori providers.
36. Some examples of the change in our approach to procuring social services are set out below:
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36.1 Transitions: One of the key changes to the Act in 2017 was the introduction of a new transitions service to provide young people with support when they move to adulthood. Half of our providers delivering this service are iwi and Māori organisations. We are looking to ensure we have even more iwi and Māori providers to partner with us in this space into the future. This will involve at a regional level meeting with iwi/ Māori to discuss this service, establishing areas of interest in the service, and providing support to build capability.
36.2 Early and intensive intervention: As set out above, we are working with a number of iwi and Māori organisations, such as the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, relating to early intervention to promote a whānau and community led approach. In terms of intensive intervention, we are developing a new intensive intervention service in partnership with iwi and Māori organisations. This service aims to work more intensely with whānau so their tamariki can safely remain at home. This work is split into two areas including small start-ups that we can learn from and expand on, which are supporting approximately 340 families across the country, and major collaborative design projects. There are collaborative design projects underway in partnership with iwi, in Tokoroa, Christchurch East, Horowhenua and Otahuhu.
36.3 Youth Justice – Mahuru: Mahuru is a remand service for Ngāpuhi rangatahi, which was co-designed by Ngāpuhi Iwi Social Services and Oranga Tamariki and launched in October 2018. Mahuru provides specialist one-to-one care with well-functioning whānau to expose tamariki and rangatahi to what it might be like to belong to a loving whānau, to have structure and routines in their lives, and to inspire them to want more of that after sentencing. In awarding Ngāpuhi Iwi Social Services this contract, we listened to their views about the way the service should be delivered, and we were open to a different way of doing things.
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Review of financial assistance for caregivers (including whānau caregivers outside of state care) 37. We have increased financial assistance for caregivers, including addressing differences in payments between whānau caregivers outside of the state care system. In Budget 2020 we increased the Unsupported Child’s Benefit (UCB), Orphan’s Benefit (OB) and Foster Care Allowance (FCA) by $25 a week per child ($143.1 million over 4 years) and aligned the payments so that whānau caregivers receiving the UCB outside of state care receive a fair allowance.
Looking to the future 38. While we have made a start, there is a lot of work still to do to transform the system to a point where ‘no tamaiti Māori will need state care’. In the next 12 months, we plan to focus on:
38.1 Improving our practice and ensuring whānau participation in decision making. Grant Bennett has outlined the changes underway in practice.
38.2 Enabling community-led responses to prevent contact with the state system to address the circumstances that lead to children being reported to the agency and reduce the number of tamariki and rangatahi progressing into the care and protection and youth justice systems. We plan to do this by partnering with others, in particular with iwi and Māori organisations. We also plan to increase the coverage of Kaupapa Māori services, particularly where services are not available, so that tamariki Māori and their whānau can choose who supports them.
38.3 Partnering to enable the Treaty aspirations of Māori. We plan to continue developing and strengthening treaty-based partnerships including strategic partnerships, including exploring further opportunities for delegation, and partnering to improve cultural competency.
39. Oranga Tamariki is looking to recent reviews, this inquiry and Te Pūao te Atatū to understand the further changes that may be required, especially in relation to partnerships (for example, how to work most effectively with strategic partners to reduce disparity) and improving cultural competency and
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addressing institutional bias in the organisation. We welcome guidance from Tribunal.
30 July 2020
______Hoani Lambert
TO: The Registrar, Waitangi Tribunal AND TO: Claimant Counsel
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