Ko te oranga o ngā tamariki te tino kaupapa i kōrerotia i te hui 67 o Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora. E ai ki te Perehetini, ki a Prue Kapua, me whakaae atu te kāwanatanga ki tā rātou hononga atu ki ngā whakawhitiwhitinga kōrero mō Oranga Tamariki.
E ai ki tētahi o ngā kuia o Te Rōpū, ki a Waikaremoana, ko te whakaarotau matua tonu, ko te oranga pūmau o ā tātou tamariki.
"Kaore he pai, i ngā rā ō mua, ko ngā kuia, ko ngā kaumātua ngā mea manaaki i ngā tamariki, ināianei kua hē katoa te haere."
Ā, tērā te whakatau i te tēpu nui o Te Rōpū Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora, mā te whai tūranga ki te tēpu whiriwhiri e āhei ai te whai huarahi e tika ana mā ngā wāhine Māori me o rātou whānau.
"We really want to see them operating in a way that involves us more. We have examples in Blenheim where our branches are involved with the Oranga Tamariki down there and they have quiet a collaborative approach," te kī a Kapua.
E whakaae ana ngā mema katoa, he māramatanga kei a rātou hei whakapūmau i te oranga o ngā tamariki Māori me o rātou whānau.
Nā tētahi mema o Te Tairāwhiti te kōrero, "Ko te pou o te whānau, he wahine nē rā. Ko te poutokomanawa, ko te wāhine. Ko te amo, ko te wahine".
"Koinā mātou o Te Roopu Wāhine Māori Toko i te Ora e ngana ana, ki te whakarauora i te hauora ā wairua, ā tinana", te kī hoki a tētahi atu mema.
Ko tā te Mema Paremata o Reipa, ko tā Louisa Wall, e mōhio pū ana ia i te kaha o te rōpū ki te whai rongoā i raro i tētahi aronga torowhānui.
"Kaupapa such as what happens with our women and our tamariki within the context of Oranga Tamariki. Overall for us its all an opportunity to come together to whakawhānaungatanga and also through our collective voices to highlight the issues that we think that are important for Māori", te kī a Wall.
"The government has to realise that actually they don't have the answers for us. They need to be talking to us not imposing their views on how it should be handled," te āpitinga a Kapua.
Kua tae te uiuinga a Ngāi Māori mō ngā mahi a Oranga Tamariki ki tōna wāhanga tuarua. Ko te kimi whakaaro huri i te motu te mahi ināianei.
"That's going to be much better in terms of good decisions and in terms of decisions that are good for our tamariki and good for giving support for our whānau", tā Kapua.
Ko te rongoā mō te oranga o ngā tamariki o te āpōpō, kei ngā ringaringa pea o tēnei huihuinga wāhine Māori.