Whāngai Adoption - what you need to know
🌿 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
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