Hāhā-uri, Hāhā-tea: Māori involvement in State Care 1950-1999
Project Background
In October 2020, the Crown Secretariat contracted Ihi Research to undertake independent research into Māori involvement in the State Care system (1950-1999). The research had three key focus areas. These were to:
Examine the extent of Māori over-representation in State Care and its link with colonisation, land alienation and urbanisation.
Investigate Māori experiences of the State Care system, including that of Māori staff; and
Investigate changes made to the State Care system for Māori following the Pūao-te-Ata-Tū report and the Children, Young Persons and Their Families Act 1989.
The research was undertaken by Ihi Research and was co-researched and written with Māori researchers who are survivors of State Care. It pulls together, for the first time, data from several locations and agencies about Māori who were in State care between 1950 and 1999 and includes the voices of staff in the care and protection system during this time. It was undertaken using a Māori centred approach.
Hāhā-uri, Hāhā-tea investigates how government policy directly led to Māori being over-represented in State care. The purpose of the document is to provide a backdrop for Māori survivors to tell their experiences in State Care at the Royal Commission’s Māori hearing in March 2022.
Faith-based experiences were not considered in the research, except where State power was used to place Māori children in faith-based institutions.
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