9. The story of abuse and neglect in care is the story of Māori in care.

10. Traditionally, Māori had their own systems of care, health, justice and law governed by tikanga Māori. Pēpi and tamariki were seen as taonga belonging to and living within a community who had a shared responsibility for them. This ensured that pēpi and tamariki were safe and nurtured.

11. Traditional Māori attitudes to hauora had multiple dimensions, including hauora hinengaro, hauora tinana, hauora whānau, and connection to whenua. This meant that whānau haua, tangata kāpō, tangata Turi, tāngata whaikaha, and tāngata whaiora were not viewed through the narrow Western lens of disability, but instead were viewed as integral to their collective community, to their whānau and hapū. Similarly, Takatāpui
were also seen an integral to their whānau and hapū.

12. When the Crown signed te Tiriti o Waitangi, it guaranteed to protect the right of Māori to exercise tino rangatiratanga. This right included the full authority of Māori over their taonga, whenua and kāinga – including the right to continue to organise and live as Māori, and to care for and raise the next generation. This guarantee of tino rangatiratanga was not upheld.

13. Te Tiriti o Waitangi envisaged that the Crown and Māori would be equal partners with different roles and spheres of influence. This required the co-operation of both the Crown and Māori to agree to their respective areas of authority and influence – a kāwanatanga sphere, and a tino rangatiratanga sphere – and to act honourably and in good faith towards each other. The Crown could not decide for Māori what Māori interests were or what the sphere of tino rangatiratanga included. Rather, the Crown’s duty was to actively engage with Māori and to ensure shared decision-making with Māori.

14. Over many generations, the Government, at times actively assisted by churches, pursued colonial and assimilationist policies aimed at breaking down Māori authority and social structures and asserting government control over Māori, their land and resources. The subordination of Māori power and authority, the deprivation of an economic base and dispossession of land and resources, the denigration of culture and assimilation caused severe intergenerational impacts that are still felt today. These, coupled with societal, structural, and institutional racism, have resulted in Māori bearing the brunt of inequities and distress, including poverty, intergenerational trauma and poor health, educational and employment outcomes.

15. Throughout the Inquiry period, Māori were disproportionately placed into State and faith-based care in many settings, and Māori made up the majority of those in care, particularly in social welfare settings. Many structural, societal and whānau factors contributed to tamariki and rangatahi Māori entering social welfare care settings. These factors included the ongoing impacts of colonisation, assimilation, urbanisation, racism and targeting of tamariki and rangatahi Māori, poverty, parental mental distress and addiction, lack of support available for whānau to care for their own, and tamariki and rangatahi being targeted for expressing behaviours in response to distress.

16. Children and young people were often placed into faith-based care as a response to overcrowding in social welfare residences. Māori were over-represented in social welfare care settings, and so were disproportionately affected by this tendency to shift State wards from overflowing social welfare care settings to faith-based care settings.

17. Throughout the Inquiry period, the State pursued a policy of segregated, often largescale institutional care for disabled people. Whānau hauā were classified based on pathological definitions of their impairment by medical professionals, and their whānau were often encouraged to place their disabled whānau member into care and told it was in everyone’s best interest. Before colonisation, the segregation of whānau members would have been considered contrary to tikanga. The State’s emphasis on institutionalisation of whānau hauā conflicted with its guarantee to Māori of tino rangatiratanga over kāinga.

18. Māori survivors were subjected to all forms of abuse and neglect across care settings, including racial, psychological, emotional, physical, sexual, cultural, educational, medical, and spiritual abuse and neglect. Entries into care were often traumatic for survivors, initiating a disruption of close whānau and community connections that continued throughout many Māori survivors’ experiences of care.

19. The most distinct and common experience for Māori survivors was the racial and cultural abuse and neglect that often occurred alongside many other forms of abuse and neglect, including being targeted for abuse and neglect because of their Māori identity. Tāngata whaikaha and tāngata Turi had specific experiences of abuse and neglect that were compounded by disablism, ableism and audism. Takatāpui survivors’ experiences were compounded by homophobia and transphobia. Wāhine Māori suffered abuse and neglect compounded by sexism and misogyny.

20. The Inquiry considered abuse and neglect suffered by Māori survivors from an ao Māori worldview and a tikanga perspective. Every instance of violence and tūkino of any kind was a transgression against individuals, their whānau and whakapapa; a transgression against the individual’s mana and the mana of the collective; and a transgression against tapu, mana motuhake, mauri and wairua.

21. The impacts of abuse were significant, pervasive, lifelong, and intergenerational, affecting survivors and their families, communities, and society. Survivors shared how the abuse and neglect they suffered impacted on their physical and mental health, emotional wellbeing and spirituality, identity and cultural identity, education and employment opportunities. Survivors’ relationships, ability to form and maintain relationships, and ability to trust, were also impacted by the abuse they suffered. Some survivors normalised and internalised the violence they experienced in care. Some lost all trust in the State and in authorities. Some experienced homelessness or unemployment. Some found that they were caught in a pipeline from care to prison. Many shared how the trauma of the abuse they suffered impacted on every aspect of their lives, and on the lives of their families, siblings, children, and grandchildren.

22. Māori survivors in particular, suffered a disconnection from their cultural identity, and a sense of disconnection from their whakapapa. For many, this was one of the most damaging impacts they experienced, which rippled out and impacted their sense of self, and their emotional, mental and spiritual wellbeing. As a result, many Māori survivors spoke about feeling whakamā, isolated, lost and not having any sense of self. This impact was intergenerational and collective, and was a significant hara against survivors, their whānau, hapū, and iwi.

23. Ultimately, the State failed in its responsibilities to keep tamariki, rangatahi and pakeke Māori safe from abuse and neglect in State and faith-based care. There were many factors which contributed to Māori being taken into care and suffering abuse and neglect in care. This included personal, structural, systemic, and societal factors.

24. For Māori survivors, two additional factors compounded the effects of the others – the Crown’s failure to uphold the rights guaranteed to Māori in te Tiriti o Waitangi and the racism in the care system that reflected the societal attitudes introduced through colonisation and Christian beliefs. These attitudes were underpinned by the view that Pākehā culture, lifestyle and values are superior to those of other cultures. Racism contributed significantly to the disproportionate numbers of Māori in care, and the abuse and neglect they were subjected to. Aotearoa New Zealand still has significant steps to take before racism is eliminated from our society.