12 November 2024
On the day of the government’s apology to survivors following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care, the Inclusive Education Action Group (IEAG) reiterates their warnings that abuse is still happening, and its concern for the safety and wellbeing of disabled children aged 8 to 15 in Aotearoa’s three residential specialist schools with a history of disproportionate use of physical restraint.
IEAG looks forward to working with the government to make fundamental changes that keep children out of care. Government action will be most effective when resources are channelled into community support, schools, families, hapū and iwi so disabled children can be looked after and educated in their own communities by the people who love and care about them.
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The Inclusive Education Action Group (IEAG) welcomes the New Zealand Government’s apology to the survivors of abuse following the release of findings from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
IEAG acknowledges the bravery of survivors and whānau who have relived ableist, racist, physical and emotional abuse to be heard; to state their right to redress and compensation; to hold perpetrators and officials to account; and to ask the government to ensure the abuse of children in state ‘care’ never happens again.
IEAG supports survivors’ calls for the Royal Commission’s recommendations to be taken seriously and implemented as quickly as possible and applauds Hon Erica Stanford’s commitment to action.
However, IEAG reiterates survivors’ warnings that abuse is still happening and in light of this, questions recent Ministry of Education decisions to increase enrolments in Aotearoa’s three residential special schools by changing enrolment criteria and opening the schools up to more disabled children. Along with other disability organisations, IEAG has raised concerns with successive governments for the safety and wellbeing of eight to 15-year-old disabled children in these schools with a history of disproportionate use of physical restraint.
IEAG also respectfully asks Minister Stanford to reconsider her recent decision to increase funding to residential specialist schools while, in light of the Royal Commission’s findings, instructing the Education Review Office to increase oversight and review the schools every year.
We agree with survivor Keith Wiffen that such tinkering is not enough and that the inquiry must be a catalyst for fundamental change.
He has said: “The best way to stop abuse in care is to keep our young out of care in the first place….to talk about the root causes and to ask why so many of our young have gone into care in the past and continue to do so.”
The Royal Commission’s report, and recent research commissioned by the Ministry of Education on residential special schools in Aotearoa, point to a lack of resources and supports in the community as key contributing factors. The government’s actions will be most effective when its resources are channelled into community support, schools, families, hapū and iwi so disabled children can be looked after and educated in their own communities by the people who love and care about them.
The Royal Commission concluded that being segregated and experiencing restricted contact and separation from whānau and community has caused acute pain and had lifelong negative impacts for disabled children.
The research commissioned by the Ministry of Education describes the risks to children in residential specialist schools; including the use of physical restraint, the shameful disproportional enrolment of Māori rangatahi and the thin evidence that the model works to improve children’s outcomes.
IEAG has unsuccessfully requested the release of a second associated research report completed in 2023, despite the report being shared with the residential special schools. The Royal Commission has described the negative effects on children in care when information critical to understanding their experiences is withheld. IEAG asks that this report be made public.
In 2022, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities questioned the government’s continued funding of residential specialist schools, recommending it cease such investment and redirect funding and resources into an inclusive education system.
IEAG applauds the government’s timely response to the 4th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of New Zealand’s human rights record, in which it guarantees disabled children’s rights to an inclusive education and commits to the development of an inclusive education strategy to address the challenges faced by disabled children in Aotearoa. These are the kind of fundamental, systemic changes needed to support and keep children in their local community.
IEAG looks forward to working with Minister Stanford and her government to act quickly to address these changes through the development of a clear vision for a different, human rights approach to care for disabled children.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jude MacArthur: 027 741 5413, [email protected]
Giovanni Tiso: 021 079 1183, [email protected]