Monitoring and Oversight Wānanga
In the Royal Commission’s engagements with survivors, their whānau and support networks they have called for a redress system founded on the prevention of future abuse of children, young persons or vulnerable adults in care, based on the concepts of make safe, keep safe and monitor safe.
We have heard that monitoring practices till now have been focused on the system and not on those in care; neither ngā purapura ora Māori nor Iwi / Māori have been involved and there has been poor response from State and faith-based institutions to past reviews and recommendations.
Commissioners Ali’imuamua Sandra Alofivae, Anaru Erueti and Paul Gibson invited around 20 participants from a broad range of experiences and communities to participate in wānanga about what effective monitoring and oversight would look like in a new redress system in September and October 2021.
Participants were generous with their whakaaro. We heard from them that the system needed a transformational change and that survivors with lived experience of abuse in care needing to be centrally involved in the design of any new system.
Recognising and empowering Māori and local communities to develop and implement their own processes and giving communities adequate resourcing to give full effect to initiatives to prevent harm, neglect and abuse in care. Existing gaps, limitations and power imbalances within the current redress systems need to be addressed so that disabled people can participate fully in the system design.
We also heard that a new system needs to give effect to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and be independent of the agencies and organisations that provide care. The system needs to be constantly reviewed, monitored, revaluated and changes implemented. A system that has statutory powers to receive and investigate complaints and make changes following those investigations to prevent future harm.
We are very grateful to the participants for sharing their insights with us. Their insights helped to inform He Purapura ora, he Māra Tipu – From Redress to Puretumu.