Reimagining Social Work in AotearoaI have been wondering (as my time in a University teaching job meanders to an end) about the function of dissent – questioning and challenging the status quo, power, vested interests – in organisations and in wider politics. I once wrote ‘‘One day I’ll find a place where there are no games of power / One day I’ll get struck by a meteor shower”. What are the implications of the current – and inescapable – power shifts in our social and political world?
A guest post by Kerstin Hagena, Alina Hagena and Luis Arevalo
“The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place, we are entering a period of consequences”
(Winston Churchill, 1936)
Kia ora koutou!
Here we are again, the trio of social service professionals and animal rights activists encouraging conversation within the social service sector about the imminent danger climate change poses to tamariki and whānau. We believe the ANZASW Code of Ethics gives us the responsibility to pay more attention to this threat and have written about this before (2024, 2023, 2022).
Oranga Tamariki has its troubles; always has had in my experience. The recent Ombudsman’s report, Children in care: complaints to the Ombudsman 2019-2023, calls for change “on a scale rarely required of a government agency”. It is clearly written, concise, and worth a read. I wonder what change of this magnitude might mean under the current hard-right coalition government?
The question of whether the Aotearoa statutory social work agency Oranga Tamaraki can be reformed or whether it should be abolished and replaced with something radically different is an issue that has drifted into the fog in recent times. In this post, I’d like to blow away some of the smoke and refocus on this fundamental question.
We live in critical times. The unequal distribution of wealth and privilege (and the resulting unequal distribution of social suffering) continues to impact upon the stability of the world order. Arguably there is, at least, an increasing awareness of the social, economic, and environmental challenges which we are faced with collectively: as a planetary species. However, understandings of causes and solutions are, as always, contested. It is useful, I think, to attempt to unpack some of this complexity. Bear with me – I will return to what this unpacking may mean for progressive social work.