ACT Party spokesperson for children Karen Chhour. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Politicians have been put in the hot seat by young people who experienced first-hand what it is like to be under the care of the state.
On Monday, in a panel organised by youth advocate charity VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai, members of Labour, National, Green, ACT, Te Pati Māori and the Opportunities Party (TOP) had their policies challenged by young people who want to ensure those in care are kept front of mind this coming election.
VOYCE national care-experienced youth participation advisor Mary-Lynn said the future of those in state care was a matter of human rights.
"Politicians can't hide anymore from the impacts that their decisions have on the lives of young people in state care.
"Those are parental decisions that these representatives are making, so they need to be making these decisions from an informed lens, they need to be evidence-based and they need to keep the young person at the centre."
Transitional housing
New Zealand had 4323 children in foster care. From North Otago, 23-year-old Lisa was one of them.
In the panel, she questioned the political parties about their plans to reduce the number of young children living in motels.
"Oranga Tamariki reported that as of October 2022, there were 14 tamariki who would spend more than 100 nights in a motel, half of them had spent more than 200 nights in a motel.
"To be frank, this to me is a direct violation of the obligation of the state to provide us with stability from care until transitioning to adulthood."
ACT Party spokesperson for children Karen Chhour said making foster care more attractive would help avoid children living in motels.
"Part of my Oranga Tamariki policy is around improving the attractiveness of caregiving, so if you are a family member that is taking on a young person from your family - whether you would be a grandparent, and aunty or an uncle - that you are getting the same economic support as a caregiver would.
"We are forcing family members into poverty to look after their own family. Sometimes families won't put their hand up because they can't afford to look after these young people."
Health accessibility
From Pōneke/Wellington, Sara said they struggled with their mental health while in the care of the state.
"When I had health problems, I've always been put in the 'too-hard basket' due to my trauma from being in state care. This has led me to not have the right services and get the help I needed to heal my body.
"So, what are you and your parties going to do to make sure children that experienced care [are] easily able to access the right health services?"
National MP Harete Hipango said care and protection plans existed, but they were not being utilised by the government.
"The state does have obligations and responsibilities in place and there's just no adherence to it. Social workers have responsibilities, and they are not complying, and there is also pressure on the workforce.
"This is a cross-sector but also a cross-community [issue] as well."
Harete Hipango. Photo: RNZ / Katie Scotcher
Labour MP Arena Williams said agencies should be talking to each other to follow through with patients in state care.
"It's about the systems talking to each other, and that's something that we can really improve, and that has been made recently.
"An example of that is a senior social worker role has been implemented in Starship [Children's Hospital] for the acute mental health services, working directly with Oranga Tamariki, and we now have systems that can talk to each other.
Opportunities Party health spokesperson Dr Nina Su said they would give young people ownership of their health.
"We think it's really important that we move forward to have more comprehensive care for young people.
"The Teal Card is our major policy. It's about a package of care for young people including free GP visits, free mental healthcare, free dental, free eye-care. All of these services will actually be bundled together and tight to something like your [National Health Index number], so young people have ownership over their own health and be able to have control over it."
Education equity
Christchurch-based Katie spent years in state care, and said education inequity took a toll on her academic life.
"I never had constant stability throughout high school, which made achieving something as simple as my high school qualifications extremely difficult.
"I received no help or guidance for pursuing and setting up my tertiary education studies, and my broader education goals. How do parties plan to address the education disparities and disruptions experienced by children in care?"
Te Pati Māori's Arabela Boatwright said the party would redirect some of Oranga Tamariki's funds to strengthen education opportunities for those in state care.
"One of the things Te Pati Māori wants to implement if part of the next government is taking part of Oranga Tamariki's funding - the $1.5 billion dollar funding they get annually - and use it to provide education opportunities to state care children."
Green Party child poverty reduction spokesperson Jan Logie said schools needed to have more resources on social work.
Jan Logie. Photo: Pool / NZME
"We need to ensure that we've got trauma-informed responses in our schools, because the schools that have been doing this, it has been life changing for those young people whose learning is disrupted because of the impact of trauma."
Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry
Recommendations from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry were also questioned in the panel.
Since 2018, the commission had investigated the conditions some people faced while in the care of the state.
While an interim report had already been released, final recommendations were expected in March next year.
In the debate, National, Labour, Te Pati Māori, TOP and the Greens all promised to implement the recommendations, while Chhour said ACT could not commit to something it had not yet seen.
"The recommendations haven't actually fully come out yet, so we actually don't know what they are."
She said committing to something without knowing it was "a bit disingenuous".
"We have had report after report with heaps of recommendations made, and governments always say they are going to take them on, and we never see them actually taking them on.
"I think we need to do more than just take on the recommendations.
But Hipango disagreed.
"It is inaccurate to say that we've been disingenuous because we don't know all of the recommendations.
"We know sufficient of the recommendations from the interim report and we can make a commitment in terms of accepting those recommendations and the grieving and the wrongdoing that have been perpetuated by the state on persons who have been in care."
The evidence was very clear, she said.
"We've heard in Parliament what some of those recommendations are, we challenge the government about it, and said that legislation can be changed to fact in what some of these recommendations are."
