Tiaki Taoka, designing a Kāi Tahu Māori organisation to work with child protection

Abstract

In 2019 Aotearoa New Zealand added an amendment to the child protection legislation that required the state to partner with Māori. This paper looks at a case study of the development of one of the services developed under the legislative amendment. Section 7 AA, Tiaki Taoka. Tiaki Taoka was designed as a Māori service response for Kāi Tahu, the iwi, tribe of the greater area of Te Waipounamu (the South Island). The service was mandated by Kāi Tahu and funded through the state to provide partial child protection services devolved from the state. The design was “by Māori, for Māori and of Māori” culturally nuanced in Kāi Tahu knowledge and experience. The co-design of the service model, Te Rereka Toroa, with Kāi Tahu community is shared alongside important relational work with the child protection system, Oranga Tamariki. Tensions in Māori and state relationships are provided with a critique on the maintenance of power and control by the colonial state and the current political challenges.