ABSTRACT
This chapter is about healthy wh-unau, extended family structure, relationships. It is about how our tupuna, ancestors, have passed to us matauranga Maori, traditional knowledge, in its many forms, that provide us with guidance as Indigenous Peoples in this contemporary world. 'Tiakina Te Pa Harakeke' is a project that explores how our tupuna believed, lived and acted within Maori cultural frameworks of traditional childrearing. It is a research project that brings to the fore the successful values and practices of care for future generations that have been held within whanau, hapu and iwi. The whakatauaki 'Hutia te rito' refers to Te Pa Harakeke, the flax plant, which is recognised within Maori society as a symbol of whanau and protection. Whanau is the fundamental building block within Maori society. Over the past thirty years Maori whanau have been defined predominantly within deficit and deprivation models within social policy, where whanau has been regarded as maintaining 'undesirable' characteristics.
