A fight for legitimacy: reflections on child protection reform, the reduction of baby removals, and child protection decision-making in Aotearoa New Zealand

Giving up the ghost: Findings on fathers and social work from a study of pre-birth child protection

“…Marked increases in the incidence of infant removal have been reported within the broadly similar child protection systems of the U.K. nations of England (Broadhurst et al, 2018), Wales (Alrouh et al, 2019), and Scotland (Raab et al, 2020). Related patterns of increased levels of separation of infants from their birth families have been identified in Australia (O’Donnell et al, 2019), and in Aotearoa New Zealand, where concern about the impact on Maori families and communities has been reported (Keddell et al, 2021; Office of the Children’s Commissioner, 2020). This paper is based upon research into child protection work in the period leading up to the birth of a baby.…”

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“…Simultaneously, this functions to allow the ongoing colonial project of Māori assimilation to continue unabated, as witnessed in past colonial approaches to the treatment of tamaiti atawhai Māori (Durie, 1997;Pihama & Lee-Morgan, 2018;Waitangi Tribunal, 2021). By failing to acknowledge and fully grasp culturally responsive practice and the consequences of culturally unresponsive governmental policy, the systems in place actively contribute to negative outcomes (Atwool, 2019;Cram, 2012;Keddell et al, 2022;Matike Mai Aotearoa, 2016;Stanley, 2017;Waitangi Tribunal, 2021).…”

“…notions of accountability position social investment as a key rationale behind the allocation of resources based on measures of risk, as opposed to measures of need (Hyslop, 2018;Keddell, 2011;Keddell et al, 2022). Through taxpayer funding, governmental organisations deploy notions of social responsibility-using social investment calculations to remain accountable to taxpayers about the allocation of resources, exacerbating untrue social perceptions that whānau in precarity who receive assistance from the state are distinct from tax-paying citizens (Hodgetts et al, 2012).…”

“…Existing child protection reforms have been based on comparative analyses between tamariki who have been in contact with the state care system and those who have not. This obscures the myriad experiences of tamaiti atawhai and the importance of identifying stressors beyond prior encounters with child protection services (Keddell, 2017;Keddell et al, 2020;Keddell et al, 2022). Operating at the expense of providing culturally competent and safe care exacerbates deep-seated inequities and disparities (Cram et al, 2019;Hyslop, 2018;Keddell et al, 2022).…”

“…Existing disparities are understood to be perpetuated by misinterpretations and segregation of mātauranga Māori, appropriation of Māori terminology, and the enforcement of colonial understandings that excuse and affirm the privileging of western constructs within Aotearoa (Barnes et al, 2009;Keddell, 2017;Keddell et al, 2022;Office of the Children's Commissioner, 2020;Smith, 2012;Tauri, 2017;Tauri & Webb, 2012;Waitangi Tribunal, 2021;Webb, 2017;Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency, 2020). Therefore, care and protection of tamaiti atawhai is shaped and constrained by neoliberalism and systems of governance that operate in opposition to social justice (Hyslop, 2018;Watson, 2019).…”