The country's 67-year-old adoption laws are set for an overhaul.
Photo: 123RF
The Ministry of Justice - Te Tāhu o te Ture has unveiled a range of options aimed at improving our much maligned adoption system.
Improving access to birth families, cultural heritage and putting the child's interests at its heart are among the proposed changes to the country's adoption legislation.
Ministry of Justice deputy secretary policy Rajesh Chhana says reform is long overdue.
"The adoption act is well over 60 years old. It hasn't kept up with modern life, modern practises and how families come together, so is in need of a tune up so we working through all the issues to try to create a modern adoption law."
Chhana said a new legislation would cater to the many cultures of Aotearoa.
The ministry is also seeking specific feedback from Māori on whether whāngai should be legally recognised.
University of Auckland Māori studies lecturer Hone Sadler said legal recognition of whāngai was well overdue.
Sadler has eight whāngai children from within his whānau.
He took on the whāngai responsibilities while he was in his 20s.
The Ngāpuhi elder said the adoption system had historically discriminated against Māori.
"From my experience with the courts the families who are prepared to take their mokopuna back haven't been given a fair hearing within the court system. I have been to a number of those court settings as an expert witness, and in my experience it was loaded heavily against the child being returned to its iwi and its hapū."
Sadler said many Māori had fallen victim to the legislation.
"I call them the lost people, there is a generation of lost children, they lost their cultural identity, they don't know who they are and they are the ones more vulnerable to get into problems."
He said identity was imperative for Māori to thrive.
"It maintains the connection to its cultural heritage and that's inclusive of its whakapapa and, reo and tikanaga, being disconnected from that disadvantages the child."
University of Canterbury senior health science lecturer Dr Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll said this was a watershed moment for Aotearoa.
"It's in the minds of a lot of us that this is needed, timely and our opportunity to see reform after many decades and attempts."
Dr Ahuriri-Driscoll said the severing of birth ties had an adverse effect on many children.
"The creation of that legal identity and the effects of that are profound and ongoing."
She said the current system granted access to heritage information only from age 20 and only on the condition a veto was not placed on their file.
"Birth families may have been granted access to see their children but it is entirely at the will of the adoptive parents so legally we want to see that relationship is not severed in law."
Ahuriri-Driscoll said the devil would be in the detail and implementation.
"I am heartened that this framework does reflect the voices of the public and the fact it is really clear is a real positive."
A woman whose family has had extensive involvement in the New Zealand adoption system welcomed the reform.
A number of her relatives came into her life through adoption and she hoped to one day continue the custom.
"I have seen the beautiful side of adoption and that's why I have considered it myself."
However, she said bureaucratic barriers were preventing people from opting to adopt.
"I hear a lot of people say they would be interested in adopting but it's just so hard to get selected so people will put off applying because they believe there is no point if they aren't going to be selected."
She wanted to see safety at the heart of our adoption legislation and argued returning a child to its birth family may not always be in its best interest.
"They actually can put children in harms way where there are no boundaries, I think it's important whatever the situation is that they're safe."
The woman who wished to remain anonymous said a more inclusive system would benefit countless children.
"I just love the idea of providing a home for a child that needs a home but again I have heard quite a few stories where it can be really, really painful and really hard."
The Ministry of Justice will provide advice to the government on final adoption law reform proposals by the end of the year.
Public consultation opened yesterday and will close on 7 August.
To have your say go to the Ministry of Justice website.
