Kerre Woodham: As long as our kids are being looked after, their parents ethnicity doesn't matter

The story of Moana. On the face of it, it’s a no-brainer.

A traumatised and neglected little girl is placed with a family who love and care for her in a safe and healthy environment, and what do you know? She blossoms.

They love her and they adopt her to make her officially part of the family. Everyone is happy.

Except the little girl is Māori , the family is Pākehā and Oranga Tamariki decided that the child should be removed from the Pākehā family and be placed with a Māori  woman because they did not think the Pākehā family could provide for the child’s cultural needs. 

So it went to court. A family court judge ruled that the little girl would remain in the care of her Pākehā parents. The judge slammed Oranga Tamariki for putting ideology before the child's best interests. 

The birth mother of the little girl appealed the decision. She was supported by Oranga Tamariki and by the Māori  woman who wished to care for the little one. So the case went to the High Court.

And now the High Court has ruled in favour of the Pākehā family. Justice Cull emphasised that the overarching and paramount consideration of the Act was child wellbeing and best interests.

Justice Cull said, preference should be given to placements of children within their family group where they're able to meet the child needs for a safe, stable and loving home from the earliest opportunity.  However, if that wasn't possible, then they go where they are safe.  

I can totally understand people wanting to keep a child within the same background. 

I mean when you look at intercountry adoption, that's what's happened as well. You have countries who say ‘don't come to our orphanages and take our children away’.

Support the orphanages so that the children can grow up in a safe, loving environment where they're within their own culture and surrounded by their own people.  

Understanding where you come from is a basic human need. Understanding who you are, what your family tree looks like on a genetic level, is a basic human need, but so too is being safe. 

So too is being fed, so too is being loved, so too is being protected. So when you have these competing needs, how do you balance them? I think the judges have decided.  

When you have a little girl who was severely traumatised and neglected, who after four years is blossoming and thriving, it really doesn't matter a fat rat’s bum what the colour of the family’s skin is.  

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.