Researchers who are also former wards of the state have stressed the key changes needed to ensure any Māori-run alternative to Oranga Tamariki doesn't just turn a white bureaucracy into a brown one.
The second week of the Waitangi Tribunal hearing into the disproportionate number of tamariki Māori in state care is underway in Hastings.
And claimants have told the Tribunal transforming the system which cares for vulnerable tamariki Māori is about more than just transferring power and resources to a Māori authority.
Meriana Johnsen reports.
