title: Barriers and facilitators to Oranga Tamariki access: Wāhine voices from Te Whakaruruhau

authors: Mcleay, Ana

abstract: This thesis examines how wāhine supported by Te Whakaruruhau Waikato Women’s Refuge experience Oranga Tamariki (OT) in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV), and what barriers and facilitators shape their access to services. Within a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, influenced by Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine principles, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured, kanohi ki te kanohi interviews with six wāhine and kaimahi. Reflexive thematic analysis identified seven themes, grouped into two overarching clusters: barriers and facilitators to OT access. Barriers were pervasive and cumulative, encompassing relational harm, negligence, fear and risk, and cultural tokenism. Facilitators - collaborative advocacy, strengths-based practice, and procedural justice - were comparatively rare and often dependent on external supports rather than systemic provision.

Mapping these findings against Te Hā o Whānau, an access framework, revealed that barriers emerged where tikanga manaakitanga, tikanga whakawhanaungatanga, and tikanga rangatiratanga were absent, while facilitators aligned with their enactment. Te Hā o Whānau conceptualises access as a relational and culturally grounded process inseparable from wellbeing, making it both conceptually robust and uniquely suited to Aotearoa. The analysis demonstrates that OT, as currently structured, undermines whānau wellbeing through systemic practices that erode mana, restrict autonomy, and compromise safety. In the immediate term, strengthened collaborative advocacy offers some protection and support, but meaningful change requires systemic transformation.

Future research should examine how Te Hā o Whānau might be further operationalised across different service contexts and explore experiences of wāhine and whānau with OT in a variety of contexts to build a fuller understanding of access and wellbeing in child welfare.

text: Barriers and facilitators to Oranga Tamariki access: Wāhine voices from Te Whakaruruhau This thesis examines how wāhine supported by Te Whakaruruhau Waikato Women’s Refuge experience Oranga Tamariki (OT) in the context of intimate partner violence (IPV), and what barriers and facilitators shape their access to services. Within a Community-Based Participatory Research approach, influenced by Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine principles, qualitative data were collected through semi-structured, kanohi ki te kanohi interviews with six wāhine and kaimahi. Reflexive thematic analysis identified seven themes, grouped into two overarching clusters: barriers and facilitators to OT access. Barriers were pervasive and cumulative, encompassing relational harm, negligence, fear and risk, and cultural tokenism. Facilitators - collaborative advocacy, strengths-based practice, and procedural justice - were comparatively rare and often dependent on external supports rather than systemic provision.

Mapping these findings against Te Hā o Whānau, an access framework, revealed that barriers emerged where tikanga manaakitanga, tikanga whakawhanaungatanga, and tikanga rangatiratanga were absent, while facilitators aligned with their enactment. Te Hā o Whānau conceptualises access as a relational and culturally grounded process inseparable from wellbeing, making it both conceptually robust and uniquely suited to Aotearoa. The analysis demonstrates that OT, as currently structured, undermines whānau wellbeing through systemic practices that erode mana, restrict autonomy, and compromise safety. In the immediate term, strengthened collaborative advocacy offers some protection and support, but meaningful change requires systemic transformation.

Future research should examine how Te Hā o Whānau might be further operationalised across different service contexts and explore experiences of wāhine and whānau with OT in a variety of contexts to build a fuller understanding of access and wellbeing in child welfare.

year: 2025

title: Maori perspectives of the environment: Summary document

authors: Whangapirita, Laura

subjects: Maori

abstract: The Community and Economy Programme at Environment Waikato has developed a partnership with the Maori and Psychology Research Unit of the University of Waikato to further assist in strengthening its commitment to cultural research and information work. This relationship facilitated the development of the Maori and Environment project, which was conducted in two stages and produced a number of significant research reports throughout 2003. This is the summary document.

text: Maori perspectives of the environment: Summary document The Community and Economy Programme at Environment Waikato has developed a partnership with the Maori and Psychology Research Unit of the University of Waikato to further assist in strengthening its commitment to cultural research and information work. This relationship facilitated the development of the Maori and Environment project, which was conducted in two stages and produced a number of significant research reports throughout 2003. This is the summary document.

year: 2003-12

title: Jacobi elliptic coordinates, functions of Heun and Lame type and the Niven transform

authors: Kalnins, Ernie G.

subjects: Lame and Heun function

abstract: Lame and Heun functions arise via separation of the Laplace equation in general Jacobi ellipsoidal or conical coordinates. In contrast to hypergeometric functions that also arise via variable separation in the Laplace equation, Lame and Heun functions have received relatively little attention, since they are rather intractable. Nonetheless functions of Heun type do have remarkable properties, as was pointed out in the classical book \Modern Analysis" by Whittaker and Watson who devoted an entire chapter to the subject. Unfortunately the beautiful identities appearing in this chapter have received little notice, probably because the methods of proof seemed obscure. In this paper we apply the modern operator characterization of variable separation and exploit the conformal symmetry of the Laplace equation to obtain product identities for Heun type functions. We interpret the Niven transform as an intertwining operator under the action of the conformal group. We give simple operator derivations of some of the basic formulas presented by Whittaker and Watson and then show how to generalize their results to more complicated situations and to higher dimensions.

text: Jacobi elliptic coordinates, functions of Heun and Lame type and the Niven transform Lame and Heun functions arise via separation of the Laplace equation in general Jacobi ellipsoidal or conical coordinates. In contrast to hypergeometric functions that also arise via variable separation in the Laplace equation, Lame and Heun functions have received relatively little attention, since they are rather intractable. Nonetheless functions of Heun type do have remarkable properties, as was pointed out in the classical book \Modern Analysis" by Whittaker and Watson who devoted an entire chapter to the subject. Unfortunately the beautiful identities appearing in this chapter have received little notice, probably because the methods of proof seemed obscure. In this paper we apply the modern operator characterization of variable separation and exploit the conformal symmetry of the Laplace equation to obtain product identities for Heun type functions. We interpret the Niven transform as an intertwining operator under the action of the conformal group. We give simple operator derivations of some of the basic formulas presented by Whittaker and Watson and then show how to generalize their results to more complicated situations and to higher dimensions.

year: 2005