Latest news with #RoyalCommissionofInquiryintoAbuseinCare
1News
19 hours ago
- Health
- 1News
Some of NZ's 4000 unmarked graves being reconnected to families
Some of 4000 unmarked graves around Aotearoa are finally being linked to family members after the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. Specifically, these were unmarked graves linked to psychiatric hospitals in Tokanui, Porirua, Christchurch, Hokitika and Waitati. Porirua cemetery alone held more than 1800. Liz Wade's great, great grandfather John Douglass was one of those buried there without a headstone. 'It doesn't feel right to me to just to have left him there,' she told 1News. 'He just seemed to have disappeared.' ADVERTISEMENT Her recent research of records suggests, 'it must have been a case of dementia and blindness and old age that caused his family to have him sent to the Porirua asylum, he was terribly unwell'. The Government has allocated up to $50,000 to each council to memorialise unmarked graves. Porirua recently released a list of names of the dead to find families. Nearly 70 relatives have contacted the council in the last month many others were yet to be heard from. 'To do a significant and meaningful memorial for the families and for the community is going to cost a lot more than that [$50,000] to put on every single name, 1800 names and so we will be pushing for the government to give us more money,' Porirua cemeteries manager Daniel Chrisp said. In Christchurch's Sydenham Cemetery, more than 760 were buried under bare grassed areas – mostly former Sunnyside mental hospital patients. Cashmere Community Board member Keir Leslie told 1News: 'A lot of the people who were buried here were older people who were suffering from mental health issues and that was really stigmatised.' Despite unmarked graves being often unknown in Aotearoa, they have received international attention. ADVERTISEMENT Canada's report on more than 4000 unmarked graves of children at residential schools was released late last year, with the report referencing the thousands of unmarked graves here in New Zealand. It cited the fact New Zealand been told twice by the Royal Commission to undertake an independent investigation, including "an independent advisory group to investigate potential unmarked graves and urupā at the sites of former psychiatric and psychopaedic hospitals, social welfare institutions or other relevant sites". But Minister Erica Stanford's office said there was no Budget 2025 money for that, although councils could use some of their $50,000 allocation to try to investigate that themselves.
Scoop
03-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
Your Rights, Your Records: CAB Highlights ‘Kōnae' A Website To Support People To Access Their Records
Press Release – Citizens Advice Bureau Knae is a website designed to help people know how and where to access their records from times when government, faith-based or other organisations were responsible for their guardianship or care. A moko's story of his koro retrieving personal records from when he lived in a children's home has been turned into a powerful 3-minute video story by the Citizens Advice Bureau to promote their launch of Kōnae: My Records Guide website. Kōnae is a website designed to help people know how and where to access their records from times when government, faith-based or other organisations were responsible for their guardianship or care. 'Creating a website with information that informs people about how to access their records is incredibly important and is something that we have been working on over the past year. Its design has been guided by survivors and people with lived experience,' said CAB Chief Executive Kerry Dalton. Survivors testified before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care that they encountered delays, missing or heavily redacted information, and sometimes deliberately hidden or destroyed files. The Commission recommended the creation of a website that would guide survivors through what remains a complicated and challenging process. Kōnae makes requesting records easier. People can quickly find organisations holding their records through an interactive map and request them directly using an online form. Kōnae doesn't hold or manage any personal records. It provides clear steps and guidance on how to request records directly from the government or institutions that do or should hold people's records. Developed over the past year, it is an important resource that simplifies the complex processes involved in requesting records. 'Survivors have both a legal and moral right to access their records when and if they wish to do this – Kōnae now exists to help make this happen, says Ms Dalton.' The Royal Commission found that between 1950 and 2019, more than 655,000 children, young people, and adults spent time in places where government and faith-based organisations were responsible for their guardianship or care. Māori people made up a disproportionate number of those removed from whānau. Widespread, systemic abuse and neglect occurred in these places, impacting hundreds of thousands of people and generations of their families. 'Records can help people better understand decisions that were made about their guardianship or care. They can also serve as critical evidence for survivors seeking justice and redress,' said Ms Dalton. 'Hundreds of thousands of people in Aotearoa have had the experience of the state or another organisation making decisions about their guardianship or care. Our hope is the video will raise awareness of Kōnae so that people know that there is guidance to help them request and access their records.' The project was funded by the government but at the request of survivors was developed independently from government. 'The CAB has a long-standing commitment to empower people to understand and exercise their rights. We are deeply honoured to have been tasked with developing Kōnae,' said Ms Dalton. 'We took a survivor-led approach in designing Kōnae, including careful consideration of language. Survivors made it clear they did not want to normalise phrases like 'state care,' because, as one survivor shared, 'Care was the opposite of what happened to us',' said Ms Dalton. 'That's why we've chosen to say 'records' rather than 'care records,' and 'time spent in places like…' rather than 'being placed in care.'' The name Kōnae was inspired by a survivor who helped develop the website. Removed from home as a small boy he began searching for his records in the 1990s and now has a box that weighs more than 20 kilograms. 'He told us that finding his records was like hauling in a net that carries part of your life story. Hauling it in has taken ages, it is hard, and heavy but worth it. In te reo Māori, Kōnae refers to a file, a woven basket, and the belly of a fishing net – symbols of gathering, sifting, and keeping what's valuable. Kōnae embodies the process of reclaiming what matters, and offering users a place to recover, keep, or release parts of their history.' 'We know that alongside online information people sometimes want extra support from a person. The core CAB service of information and advice, provided by our 2,000 trained volunteers via our freephone number (0800 367 222) and from our 80 locations across Aotearoa is available to help people understand and access their rights and navigate Kōnae.'
Scoop
03-06-2025
- General
- Scoop
Your Rights, Your Records: CAB Highlights ‘Kōnae' A Website To Support People To Access Their Records
A moko's story of his koro retrieving personal records from when he lived in a children's home has been turned into a powerful 3-minute video story by the Citizens Advice Bureau to promote their launch of Kōnae: My Records Guide website. Kōnae is a website designed to help people know how and where to access their records from times when government, faith-based or other organisations were responsible for their guardianship or care. 'Creating a website with information that informs people about how to access their records is incredibly important and is something that we have been working on over the past year. Its design has been guided by survivors and people with lived experience,' said CAB Chief Executive Kerry Dalton. Survivors testified before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care that they encountered delays, missing or heavily redacted information, and sometimes deliberately hidden or destroyed files. The Commission recommended the creation of a website that would guide survivors through what remains a complicated and challenging process. Kōnae makes requesting records easier. People can quickly find organisations holding their records through an interactive map and request them directly using an online form. Kōnae doesn't hold or manage any personal records. It provides clear steps and guidance on how to request records directly from the government or institutions that do or should hold people's records. Developed over the past year, it is an important resource that simplifies the complex processes involved in requesting records. 'Survivors have both a legal and moral right to access their records when and if they wish to do this - Kōnae now exists to help make this happen, says Ms Dalton.' The Royal Commission found that between 1950 and 2019, more than 655,000 children, young people, and adults spent time in places where government and faith-based organisations were responsible for their guardianship or care. Māori people made up a disproportionate number of those removed from whānau. Widespread, systemic abuse and neglect occurred in these places, impacting hundreds of thousands of people and generations of their families. 'Records can help people better understand decisions that were made about their guardianship or care. They can also serve as critical evidence for survivors seeking justice and redress,' said Ms Dalton. 'Hundreds of thousands of people in Aotearoa have had the experience of the state or another organisation making decisions about their guardianship or care. Our hope is the video will raise awareness of Kōnae so that people know that there is guidance to help them request and access their records.' The project was funded by the government but at the request of survivors was developed independently from government. 'The CAB has a long-standing commitment to empower people to understand and exercise their rights. We are deeply honoured to have been tasked with developing Kōnae,' said Ms Dalton. 'We took a survivor-led approach in designing Kōnae, including careful consideration of language. Survivors made it clear they did not want to normalise phrases like 'state care,' because, as one survivor shared, 'Care was the opposite of what happened to us',' said Ms Dalton. 'That's why we've chosen to say 'records' rather than 'care records,' and 'time spent in places like…' rather than 'being placed in care.'' The name Kōnae was inspired by a survivor who helped develop the website. Removed from home as a small boy he began searching for his records in the 1990s and now has a box that weighs more than 20 kilograms. 'He told us that finding his records was like hauling in a net that carries part of your life story. Hauling it in has taken ages, it is hard, and heavy but worth it. In te reo Māori, Kōnae refers to a file, a woven basket, and the belly of a fishing net - symbols of gathering, sifting, and keeping what's valuable. Kōnae embodies the process of reclaiming what matters, and offering users a place to recover, keep, or release parts of their history.' 'We know that alongside online information people sometimes want extra support from a person. The core CAB service of information and advice, provided by our 2,000 trained volunteers via our freephone number (0800 367 222) and from our 80 locations across Aotearoa is available to help people understand and access their rights and navigate Kōnae.'
Newsroom
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Newsroom
State lets itself off the hook over public servants implicated in cover-up
After examining its own conduct, the state has decided it will not take any action against public servants named or implicated in the landmark Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. A lawyer and advocate who has been fighting the state on behalf of survivors for 30 years says she's unsurprised to, yet again, see the state protecting itself.
