Tracie Shipton: VOYCE Whakarongo Mai Chief Executive says young Māori are "over-represented" in Oranga Tamariki

An Independent Children's Monitor report finds almost half the reports of concern relate to young Māori. 

They make up two-thirds of those in care - and more than three-quarters in youth justice custody. 

Voyce Whakarongo Mai Chief Executive Tracie Shipton told Ryan Bridge that change is possible. 

She says it's a stark reminder if we get in early with wrap around services for whanau and young people, we can make a difference. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Another new report showing some Maori kids are falling through
the cracks. The Independent Children's Monitor found all the usual
stats for those in state care. Here's an interesting one.
Ninety two percent of those in trouble with Youth Justice
had a previous care and protection concern raised about them
when they were younger. In other words, childhood at home

(00:21):
was bad, then they act out. Tracy Shipton CEO and
voice of fuck itong with my is with me? Tracy,
good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yeah, good morning.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Good to have you on this program. Does this report
tell us anything new?

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Well, it doesn't tell us as an organization anything new
because we've been talking with young people for years now
and getting their view on the care system, so it's
not a big surprise to us.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
So do you have any hope anything is going to change?
I mean, it doesn't matter what government's in place, And
this report says that even the interventions that have been
put in place, you can't accurately tell whether they're having
much of an effect.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Well, I think what the report does tell us is
that there's opportunities to actually make impactful intervention really early.
It tells us that ninety two percent go on from
care and protection concern raised to youth Justice tells us
there was a window somewhere earlier to do something, And
I guess for us, that's the challenge. What can we

(01:20):
do earlier? What can we do as a collective community
that's going to really impact positively the lives of these
young of these young people.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
The Minister of Finance and Bill English before her would say,
the answer is social investment, you target These are the
exactly the young people you want to be targeting, and
you already have these red flags right that they've been
in a home where there's been a care and protection issue.
Is that an answer?

Speaker 2 (01:49):
I think well, what certainly is an answer is saying
that we should invest in young people. Like if we
think about the language and what we're saying in these
reports is we want better outcomes. What's a better outcome?
A better outcome is a childhood where somebody emerges from
it hole. We have opportunities here, It's not happening, it's

(02:10):
this is a stark reminder that if we get an
early wrap around gives lots of support to Farno and
young people at the right opportunity, Yes, we can make
a difference. I am totally optimist that we can do that.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
Tracy, appreciate your time this morning. Tracy Shipton, CEO of Voice,
Fuck Itong with mine. It is sixteen after five year
on News Talks, there'd be I actually happen to believe wholeheartedly,
and that's just how you do it and how effective
it is, whether you know whether you're just throwing money
pissing in the wind. Basically. For more from early edition
with Ryan Bridge, Listen live to News Talks there'd be

(02:47):
from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.