Work with, not deliver to

If Government departments and social agencies are to work in a way that helps whānau be stronger, safer, and more resilient against hard times, then they must work with whānau, not deliver to them, say participants in a Families Commission study released today.

Te pūmautanga o te whānau –Tūhoe and South Auckland whānau – (Kahukore Baker, Haromi Williams and Colleen Tuuta) is a collection of interviews and stories gathered from whānau in two distinct locations; ahi kaa Tūhoe whānau, and urban taura here whānau located in south Auckland.

“The report collects data of a kind rarely seen from Maori informants,” says Colleen Tuuta, chair of the Families Commission’s Whānau Reference Group. “It captures the stories of whānau themselves, not just sets of statistics. And then, rather than simply highlighting the challenges and problems Tūhoe and South Auckland whānau face, it looks at how they cope, their strategies for survival, and how whānau strength and resiliency is maintained through self-devised practices that make a real difference in people’s lives every day.”

For the Tūhoe whānau, their strength and resilience lie within their whakapapa, whanaungatanga, marae, hapū and tribal structures. The South Auckland whānau turned to whānau, friends neighbours, sports clubs, churches, the Manukau Urban Māori Authority, and community organisations.

Importantly, many of the examples given occur not only outside government interventions; but in some cases, in spite of government interventions, drawing on the strengths and resources of the people.

In spite of having quite different physical locations and community circumstances, the whānau from both locations came up with the same messages for agencies set up to help whānau struggling to keep a roof over their heads, put food on the table, manage debt, look after vulnerable whānau members, contribute to their own communities and cope with unemployment, and health issues.

“One of the issues many social agencies struggle with,” says Colleen Tuuta, “Is that the most vulnerable whānau are often the very ones who shun official sources of help. The South Auckland whānau case study helps shed some light on that puzzle and suggests a better way of working.

“The key message is that the exclusive use of ‘mainstream’ concepts and processes, and the relegation of cultural and whānau-based processes to an inferior status, can actually force whānau to disengage with the very services that should be helping them, in order for whānau to retain their dignity, mauri and mana.

“Government departments need to re-think their delivery of social services. Delivering to is at fundamental odds with the concepts, processes and practices that these whānau use to define their worlds. There are good examples of this sort of approach from some government and community service providers, but it needs to become a default position right across the board if support of whānau is to be effective and promote resilience not dependence.”