The Government is facing yet another legal challenge over its policies affecting Māori, following a third urgent claim to the Waitangi Tribunal in less than a month.
The response is being described as unprecedented by Auckland Barrister David Stone.
"It's really unusual. There's never been so many urgencies filed so quickly, one after the other, for as long as I can remember. And I've been doing this for about 25 years," he said.
The latest claim has been filed by representatives of Te Tāwharau o Ngāti Pūkenga, the post settlement entity for the Bay of Plenty iwi, over the Government's plan to scrap section 7AA from the Oranga Tamariki Act.
That legislation compels the ministry to prioritise a Māori child's ancestry or whakapapa when deciding whose care they should be in.
It also requires Oranga Tamariki to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and report regularly on how its improving outcomes for Māori children in its care.
Kerri Cleaver, a state care survivor and social worker, said ensuring children in care remained connected to their cultural identity was crucial.
"I entered the state care system when I was 13, and I have 17 blood first aunties and uncles and none of them were contacted or advised I was in state system," she said.
"I bounced around a number of non-Māori placements, non-kin, people I didn't know and lived in their houses. I experienced abuse in one of those placements, and then exited the state system at age 17 expecting to navigate the world without any adult support, and that was pretty tumultuous."
She would later realise how important re-connecting with her whakapapa was.
"When I started weaving, I understood that my tūpuna were with me, and that was really the start of that journey back to understanding healing and wellbeing and connection to whakapapa.
"Te ao Māori was the key or healing... I'm pretty dedicated to section 7AA being the bare minimum of provision that enables Māori to lead our rights and responsibilities to our future ancestors and to our mokopuna."
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Zoe Witika-Hawke, the CEO for E Tipu E Rea Whānau Services, said the same longing for connection was evident in the whānau she worked with.
"Those that are stronger in their identity, proud of who they are, more connected to their iwi and hapū tend to be better in life on so many levels," she said.
"I'm holding back the emotion because if you have seen what state care has done to our whānau and the damage it continues to perpetuate, and the healing that has slowly started to happen because of the legislation, taking that away cuts so deeply."
The Waitangi Tribunal only grants urgent hearings in exceptional circumstances.
It can't stop the Government from doing something or making binding recommendations, but lawyer David Stone said it could hold them publicly accountable.
"The good thing about going through the Waitangi Tribunal process is that the Government has to respond. It has to front up. It has to answer the questions. And it gives us an opportunity to cross examine," he said.
"It holds them to account and makes them answer for what they've done."
The new Children's Minister Karen Chhour said in a statement that focusing on race and requiring Oranga Tamariki to honour the Treaty of Waitangi was at odds with its sole focus of protecting at-risk children.
Witika-Hawke urged the Government to start listening.
"For our coalition, it's a time to pause and to listen and to really reflect on what they're doing," she said.
Stone is certain there will be more legal action to come.
"I can guarantee you, and I know this for a fact, there are more urgencies in the pipeline and they will be filed in the new year.
"That's a clear sign that something is wrong with what the Government is trying to do."
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