Te Aho Takitoru

Te Aho Takitoru enables social workers to work with whānau Māori in a culturally appropriate manner using intervention strategies generated from Māori knowledge and world-view.

Te Aho Takitoru has enables our organisation to work in partnership with whänau Mäori to find the most culturally appropriate care solutions for their vulnerable children.  Te Aho Takitoru actively promotes whänau well-being and self determination. 

Te Aho Takitoru enables our organisation to fulfil our obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi (between Māori and the government) by offering culturally safe interventions.

Approximately 30% of families seeking care and protection assistance from OHF are Māori. Māori are over represented in all areas of social services due to poverty, poor education and high unemployment.  Te Aho Takitoru addresses societal structural issues for Māori that have arisen through colonization, injustice and institutional racism.

Te Aho Takitoru was created from the practice wisdom of our Mäori staff of Te Whare Kaupapa Āwhina / Open Home Foundation.  We noticed Māori social workers best practice outcomes occurred when they retained their own cultural patterns in their practice. 

These cultural patterns and the underlying values they express were explored in the context of social work in Aotearoa/New Zealand and became the basis for this unique practice approach with Mäori that enables both Mäori and non-Māori to engage in a culturally appropriate manner using intervention understanding generated from Mäori knowledge and Māori worldview.