1
00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,560
Speaker 1: So Aranga Tamariki is getting rid of its target to

2
00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:05,840
Speaker 1: place fifty eight percent of the kids in its care

3
00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,280
Speaker 1: with wider faro or family, and it's also ditching a

4
00:00:10,320 --> 00:00:13,960
Speaker 1: target for investment with Mali organizations. Twenty three percent of

5
00:00:14,000 --> 00:00:17,720
Speaker 1: their funding was targeted for organizations with Maori and Ewe links.

6
00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,079
Speaker 1: The Minister of Children Karantur says this is part of

7
00:00:21,200 --> 00:00:24,560
Speaker 1: OT's safety first approach, and she said the targets were

8
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:29,080
Speaker 1: outdated and went against the need not race directive, and

9
00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:32,320
Speaker 1: she was concerned whether the priority of mari organizations were

10
00:00:32,360 --> 00:00:34,920
Speaker 1: getting in the way of the quality and efficacy of

11
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:38,080
Speaker 1: the services being provided. And all of that makes sense

12
00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:43,520
Speaker 1: to me. The ingrained belief in our children's social workers

13
00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,440
Speaker 1: that kids are always better off if rehome with farno

14
00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:51,480
Speaker 1: or family always seemed counterfactual to me, because in many

15
00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:53,720
Speaker 1: cases the abuse directed at the kids was at the

16
00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,960
Speaker 1: hand of farno or family themselves, people that have been

17
00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:00,400
Speaker 1: raised by other people in their family, but at their

18
00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:03,040
Speaker 1: own parenting. So why would we give the kids back

19
00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,480
Speaker 1: to the people that raise the people who can't raise

20
00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:08,920
Speaker 1: the kids. It often seemed to me that children were

21
00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:11,920
Speaker 1: being thrown right back into the very cauldron we were

22
00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,680
Speaker 1: trying to help them escape from. And there have been

23
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:19,080
Speaker 1: generations of examples, haven't there. Let's not forget baby Ru.

24
00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,320
Speaker 1: I haven't mentioned Ru's name for a while. He was

25
00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,360
Speaker 1: murdered in October twenty twenty three. Nobody has been charged

26
00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,640
Speaker 1: for killing him. There was anger then and anger now

27
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,480
Speaker 1: when the police who were there when he suffered, or

28
00:01:30,600 --> 00:01:32,680
Speaker 1: sorry when the people who were there when he suffered

29
00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:35,959
Speaker 1: did not cooperate with the police. They were there, they

30
00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:41,559
Speaker 1: say nothing. Those people were and are Rosie Modonga, her partner,

31
00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:46,680
Speaker 1: Dylan Ross, and Ru's mother Storm Wall. They were, and

32
00:01:46,760 --> 00:01:52,240
Speaker 1: they are Ruse Farno. What happened people, It's being two

33
00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:56,160
Speaker 1: years and two Christmas is what happened two birthdays. The

34
00:01:56,280 --> 00:02:00,440
Speaker 1: uplifting of kids is a very serious thing, to be

35
00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,960
Speaker 1: housed in safe places with good people, but the history

36
00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,840
Speaker 1: of Oranga tamariki suggests that too many of the supposed

37
00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:13,240
Speaker 1: saviors are in fact predators hiding in plain sight. There

38
00:02:13,320 --> 00:02:15,440
Speaker 1: is no easy answer to this, which is why I've

39
00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:20,440
Speaker 1: spoken about this for decades. And the only thing we

40
00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,399
Speaker 1: can have is strong vigilance by our agencies, by Oranga tamariki.

41
00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,680
Speaker 1: And the only thing we can hope for is that

42
00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:30,960
Speaker 1: good people come forward to help the kids that have

43
00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:34,800
Speaker 1: been abused. For more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

44
00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 1: Listen live to news Talks it Be from five am weekdays,

45
00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:40,639
Speaker 1: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio