Whāngai Adoption - what you need to know

Hira Siddiqui from Citizens Advice Bureau Pakuranga/Eastern Manukau

🌿 Whāngai is Māori customary adoption, when a child is raised by members of the whānau. It is not a formal adoption so it is generally not recognised by New Zealand law.

🌿 Whāngai is a customary Māori practice where a child is brought up by someone other than their birth parents – usually another relative. Whāngai may be temporary or permanent. A parent who takes on a child is called a matua whāngai, and the child is a tamaiti whāngai. The child knows both its birth parents and whāngai parents, and the whole community is usually involved in the decision.

🌿 Reasons for whāngai include:
* finding a home for an orphan
* taking in a child from a large family that was struggling to support all the children
* taking in a child whose parents were young
* grandparents taking in a mokopuna (grandchild) and teaching them tribal traditions
* allowing children to inherit land.

🌿 A whāngai adoption is recognised with regards to succession to Māori land. Also, whāngai parents (matua whāngai) of a child aged under six years can apply for paid parental leave for the period of time when the child begins living with them.

🌿 A child of a whāngai adoption (a tamaiti whāngai) cannot challenge a will under the Family Protection Act.

Image credit: The Spinoff / photo by Social Equity
Info credit: Citizens Advice Bureau NZ: cab.org.nz / Te Ara: teara.govt.nz