<p style="text-align:center"><em><span style="font-size:12px">Presentation team L &ndash; R Heather Gifford, Jacinta Ruru, Horiana Irwin, Tania Williams-Blyth</span></em></p>

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<p>At a workshop hosted by Superu and Ng&#257; Pae o Te M&#257;ramatanga on 29 May 2018 Dr Heather Gifford joined Tania Williams-Blyth, Professor Jacinta Ruru, and Horiana Irwin presenting a session titled &ldquo;Tamariki and Whanau who have come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki and the Family Court&rdquo;. The workshop programme was titled Toi T&#363; te wh&#257;nau, Toi T&#363; te K&#257;wai Whakapapa: A workshop on Wh&#257;nau and Whakapapa for Public Policy.</p>

<p>To strengthen and empower wh&#257;nau and to provide opportunities for strategic partnerships, M&#257;ori lawyers and academics have collaborated in this ongoing research, funded by Ng&#257; Pae o te M&#257;ramatanga. Their intentions include reducing disparities, setting measureable outcomes, working closely with M&#257;ori organisations, and producing information and research for use by iwi or M&#257;ori organisations and the Government.</p>

<p>The research identifies that &ldquo;the family court is in crisis, care and protection cases should be taken outside the family court, and that a new model needs to be developed&rdquo;</p>

<p>The M&#257;ori issues correspondent from National Radio, Leigh-Marama McLachlan reports: <a href="/uploads/files/mnr-20180531-0748-maori_lawyers_say_family_court_not_working_for_whanau-128.mp3" onclick="window.open(this.href, '', 'resizable=yes,status=no,location=no,toolbar=no,menubar=no,fullscreen=no,scrollbars=no,dependent=no,width=400,left=20,height=400,top=20'); return false;">Listen to it here</a></p>

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<p><img alt="Tania Williams-Blyth, Horiana Irwin" src="/uploads/images/Legal_FC_Horiana_Tania-web.jpg" style="height:604px; width:650px" /></p>

<p style="text-align:center"><em><span style="font-size:12px">Tania Williams-Blyth, Horiana Irwin</span></em></p>
