Personal Experience of fostering
Maatua Whaangai was a
great scheme, but the next change of government saw it scrapped in favour of
the new Children and Young Persons Act with its Family Group Conferences. The
discussion of the principles of this Act was going on all the time I was
working with DSW, and introduced us to the concepts of Restorative Justice.
It meant that the
Maatua Whaangai idea was expended to all needy children who came to the notice
of the authorities. Teenage offenders would attend a conference with their
families, where the whole whanau would recommend a course of action and commit
themselves to helping. Police and social workers would attend, take part, and monitor progress.
That was the theory;
Ray Roebuck got the job of seeing that it worked. He persevered in that job for many years, and
its success in Taranaki is largely due to his patience and common sense.
Many years after I
left Social Work officially, Margaret and I fostered one of her second cousins,
Christina Burnard , when she was
about twelve years old. We attended several family conferences and were able to
persuade Christina’s mother, Paula, to co-operate with the social work staff,
and the social workers to recommend that Christina go back to live with her
mother.
We have kept in touch
over the years and still see Christina from time to time: she has a good
partner and together they have two fine children.
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