TE RITO Foundation

21/07/2026

Nga mihi mo Te Tau Hou Māori ki a koutou,

Earlier in the year 2026, I announced changes to Te Rito Foundation in terms of recalibrating from our original social services impact model delivery to one of specialist research advisory restructuring a transition to a charitable trust.

That remains in place and on track for November including a partnership project with Pūrerehua Charitable Trust.

As the new year provides, these changes are in preparation ex*****on mode to relaunch and reveal on Monday 9 November.

What we remain active while transitioning changes: 💙🤍🖤🌟🌿

🔵 💙🤍🖤🌿WAI 3300 — Constitutional Inquiry Update from Tribunal records (Judicial Conference #4.1.015)

Te Rito Foundation shares the following update on recent progress within the Wai 3300 – Tomokia Ngā Tatau o Mātangireia Constitutional Inquiry.

💙🌿Key developments

- Recent Tribunal discussions highlighted significant claimant concerns about the draft wānanga ā‑rohe report. Several claimant groups reported that their constitutional models, declarations, and tino rangatiratanga frameworks were not reflected in the draft document.

- Claimants noted omissions including the Declaration of Whaingaroa, free‑trade sovereignty models, and regional self‑determination proposals.

- Concerns were raised about process fairness, with some questioning whether staff had fully captured the depth of kanohi‑ki‑te‑kanohi constitutional kōrero.

- The proposed pou tikanga wānanga drew mixed responses, with some claimant counsel expressing concern that it may unintentionally create an “elite” layer of commentary, distancing claimants from core constitutional discussions.

- Legal aid constraints continue to affect claimant participation, limiting travel and in‑person engagement.

💙🌿Why this matters

These developments reinforce the importance of ensuring that all claimant voices — including those represented by Te Rito Foundation — are accurately and visibly reflected in the constitutional record. The Inquiry continues to evolve, and claimant feedback is shaping the next phase of reporting and engagement.

🟣💙🤍🖤🌿 MANA WAHINE — Inquiry Update (15 Hūrae 2026)
Overview of the most recent generic and claimant‑specific submissions filed by counsel

Te Rito Foundation also provides an update on the latest submissions within the Wai 2700 – Mana Wahine Kaupapa Inquiry, where claimant counsel have filed comprehensive replies to the Crown’s June 2026 response.

💙🌿Key developments

- Claimant counsel noted that the Crown’s response did not address all claims, particularly across the whānau/whakapapa, whai rawa, and whenua pou.

- Counsel expressed concern that the Crown’s characterisation of wāhine Māori experiences as “mere impressions” undermines the evidential value of kōrero tuku iho.

- The Crown’s tendency to redirect issues into other kaupapa inquiries was identified as a barrier to applying a true mana wahine lens, which is central to this Inquiry.

- Claimants highlighted the lack of clarity around which issues the Crown intends to address in evidence, creating challenges for preparing for future hearings.

💙🌿Claim‑specific issues raised

- Stigma for unmarried wāhine Māori and their children (Wai 58) — not addressed by the Crown.

- Impacts of war service on whānau and violence rates (Wai 58 & 1661) — omitted from the Crown’s response.

- Te Whare o Tangata practices relating to whenua and pito (Wai 2389 & 58) — Crown response was too narrow and did not consider land alienation.

- Rongoā Māori (Wai 1661 & 58) — not mentioned by the Crown despite its significance.

- Education impacts on wāhine Māori — Crown summaries lacked citations and omitted key historical issues.

- Whenua and property concepts (Wai 58) — Crown incorrectly framed pre‑contact land rights using Western terminology.

- Commodification of wāhine Māori (Wai 2945 – Te Rito Foundation) — Crown did not respond to issues relating to Crown‑imposed s*xual labour, criminalisation, and ongoing stigma associated with s*x work.

💙🌿Why this matters

These submissions highlight the need for clear, accurate, and comprehensive engagement with the lived experiences of wāhine Māori. For Te Rito Foundation’s claim (Wai 2945), the submissions reinforce the importance of ensuring that issues relating to the historical and contemporary treatment of wāhine Māori are fully addressed within the Inquiry.

On behalf of the Te Rito Foundation social media platform, we appreciate our audience, invite engagement and involvement.

If yourself or your organization are interested to be part of the recalibration of Te Rito Foundation, send interest through to [email protected].

Nga manaakitanga

Raewyn Kapa
Director
Te Rito Foundation

Authorised 22 July 2026, Tamaki Makaurau | Auckland

04/07/2026

RE-PARENTING & REGULATING OURSELVES AS PARENTS 💙🖤🤍🦋🌿

Part of recovery, rebirthing and rebuilding oneself as a parent where children are removed from one's care can sometimes include the need to reparent and regulate oneself to make the changes necessary to support better the parent one needs to be to parent our tamariki.

This month's series of Te Rito Foundation posts in a pre-launch collaboration of Pūrerehua Charitable Trust kaupapa will be on parenting focusing on support therapies to treat oneself in restarting.

Follow these sharings here for guidance on this part of your journey with our kaupapa.

Mauri ora 💙🖤🤍🦋🌿

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17hoHjsQ8W/

02/07/2026

Pūrerehua Charitable Trust — 1 August 2026 🦋💙🌿

There comes a time when a kaupapa is not simply created, but called into being — by lived experience, by whakapapa, and by the quiet strength of wāhine who have carried more than their share for far too long.

🦋💙🌿Pūrerehua Charitable Trust is born from that space.

It is a kaupapa grounded in the belief that every wāhine Māori holds an unbroken essence of mana, even in the most difficult seasons of life. That mana is not lost through violence, hardship, or system navigation. It remains, waiting to be seen, supported, and restored.

Pūrerehua speaks to transformation — like the butterfly that emerges from stillness and change. It reflects a journey of recovering, rebirthing, and rebuilding, not as abstract ideas, but as lived pathways of healing and return to self.

This kaupapa exists alongside wāhine Māori who are navigating complex realities — particularly those impacted by intimate partner violence, family harm, and involvement with care and protection systems such as Oranga Tamariki. These are spaces where the weight of systems can feel heavy, and where support must be steady, culturally grounded, and without judgement.

Pūrerehua does not stand above or outside these experiences. It walks within them.

At its heart, this trust is about mana wāhine, whakapapa, and restoration of dignity through connection and care. It recognises that healing is not linear, and that strength is often found in the act of continuing — even when the path is uncertain.

Through partnership with TE RITO Foundation this kaupapa extends its reach to ensure wāhine Māori and their tamariki are not alone in system spaces, but are supported with advocacy, cultural grounding, and practical pathways forward.

This is not about fixing people.

It is about holding space for restoration.

It is about recognising the mother, the daughter, the mokopuna, and the wāhine as she is — and as she is becoming.

Pūrerehua stands for:

🦋 safety without judgement

🦋 support without conditions

🦋 advocacy without silence
&
🦋 transformation without shame

As this kaupapa moves toward its launch on 1 August 2026, it carries with it a simple but enduring commitment:

To walk beside wāhine Māori as they recover what was disrupted, rebuild what was broken, and rediscover what was always within them — their own mana, their own voice, and their own path forward.

Pūrerehua is a place of trust to be restored.

🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋 🦋💙🌿

27/06/2026

"We are not called to become the new oppressors.

We are called to be the healers, protectors and guides of our mokopuna." 🙏🏽🌿🖤❤️🤍

Over the last 30–35 years, many of us have gained education, qualifications, knowledge, and greater awareness of our history. Yet one question remains:

What does true liberation actually look like?

Is it simply replacing one group in power with another?

Or is it creating something different altogether?

When it comes to our tamariki, are we protecting whakapapa, identity, belonging and relationships? Or are we allowing systems, conflicts and competing interests to turn children into possessions to be won, controlled, or claimed?

When it comes to whānau, are we strengthening families through support, healing and restoration? Or have we become comfortable with models that separate, isolate and displace, while calling it progress?

When it comes to whenua Māori, are we seeking collective stewardship for future generations, or are we reproducing the same hierarchies of ownership, control and exclusion that were once imposed upon us?

Paulo Freire warned that the oppressed can sometimes internalise the values of the oppressor. Instead of dismantling systems of domination, they can end up replicating them.

If that is true, then decolonisation is not simply about who holds power.Recolonising becomes the play; the taking of power and breaking of unity that divides.

Instead, what we should want is transforming our relationship with power itself.

The challenge shouldn't be whether we can become the new lords, "boss" and gatekeepers.

Instead the challenge put should be do we have the courage to let go of the desire to dominate altogether.

To choose:
• Relationship over control.
• Responsibility over authority.
• Stewardship over ownership.
• Whakapapa over individual gain.
• Collective wellbeing over personal advantage.

Tamariki are not commodities.

Whānau are not acquisitions.

Whenua is not merely property.

They are taonga.

The tika path is not always the easiest path, but it is the path that moves us away from division, manipulation, exploitation and control, and towards manaakitanga, whanaungatanga and genuine rangatiratanga.

The question for our generation is simple:

Will we inherit the colonial mindset and give it a Māori face?

Or will we create something better for our mokopuna?

He wā kōwhiri.

The time to choose is now.❤️🖤🤍🪝🐚💙🌳🌿
Raewyn Kapa Towards a Māori Family Court LLM Thesis Proposal 2027

- I'm so honoured and excited to share that my thesis proposal to complete my LLM was approved this week at Victoria University. My topic is "Towards a Māori Family Court" to be supervised by the highly esteemed Dr Luke Fitzmaurice-Brown. Passion with purpose for tamariki mokopuna and their parent whanau.

Raewyn Kapa
Director, Te Rito Foundation
Mauri Ora 🖤❤️🤍⚖️🌿

17/03/2026

TE RITO FOUNDATION – WAI 3300 DRAFT REPORT CONSTITUTIONAL INQUIRY💙🖤🤍🌿

The Waitangi Tribunal’s draft report for the Wai 3300 Constitutional Inquiry was released this week that includes the contributions made by Te Rito Foundation through Wai 2945. Our positions were grounded in the constitutional foundations of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga, which continue to guide how we strive for rightful authority, responsibility, and the wellbeing of our Pa Harakeke 🌿.

A key part of our evidence referenced the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in the United States. ICWA recognises the inherent tribal sovereignty of First Nations peoples and affirms their jurisdiction over the care and protection of their children. It demonstrates what it looks like when a state acknowledges Indigenous authority as a constitutional partner and not a political concession.

If Aotearoa adopted a similar approach, iwi would hold full jurisdiction to determine the welfare, care, and justice pathways for tamariki Māori. This is not preferential treatment or separatism. It is the constitutional effect of what Te Tiriti guaranteed Māori: authority over their own affairs, including their tamariki.

Tangata Tiriti retain their rights through the Crown and the protections of British citizenship guaranteed to them under the Treaty. Each group exercises authority in the sphere Te Tiriti intended.

The reason Māori do not currently exercise this jurisdiction is not because the right does not exist — it is because the Crown breached Article 2 by removing Māori authority over their own tamariki. The absence of Māori jurisdiction today reflects Crown breach, not Māori deficiency.

Such a model would shift child welfare from a state‑centred system to one grounded in rangatiratanga and relational governance.

This also requires us, as Māori, to maintain clarity and integrity in how we operate with one another. Constitutional authority is strengthened when our own systems and relationships reflect the values we expect to see in state structures. If we are to demonstrate examples for our tamariki, then how we regard each other, collaborate, and uphold mana within our own circles matters.

💙🖤🤍🌿OUR THREE KEY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WAI 3300 DRAFT REPORT — AND OUR WHY

1. Kāwanatanga as Delegated Authority
What we said:
Kāwanatanga, as understood in 1840, was a limited and delegated authority that did not override Māori authority or tino rangatiratanga.

Our why:
Te Rito’s kaupapa is grounded in the understanding that whānau, hapū, and iwi hold inherent authority over their own affairs. Recognising kāwanatanga as delegated aligns with Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga and provides the constitutional basis for Māori‑led systems of care, protection, and wellbeing. This framing ensures our work is understood as constitutional, not political.

2. Governance vs Domination
What we said:
The Crown crosses the line from governance into domination when authorised structures deny whānau the measures of support they require, resulting in consequences that fall disproportionately on Māori families.

Our why:
Te Rito worked directly with whānau who experienced these consequences in their own lives and were denied appropriate support at the point of intervention. Highlighting this pattern is essential to explaining why kaupapa Māori, whānau‑led approaches are required. This is a constitutional assessment of how authority and responsibility are exercised, not a political critique.

3. A Sphere of Guaranteed Māori Authority
What we said:
Aotearoa requires constitutional provision for a sphere of guaranteed Māori authority, consistent with Article 2, where whānau within hapū hold primary decision‑making power over their own affairs.

Our why:
Te Rito has always operated on the principle that whānau are the primary decision‑makers in their own lives. This aligns directly with the constitutional intent of Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga. Our position is jurisdictional, not political — it clarifies where authority should sit and how it should operate in a modern context.

💙🖤🤍🌿WHY THIS MATTERS FOR WHĀNAU MĀORI & TAMARIKI

Te Rito Foundation presented a lived‑experience‑based social impact model because parents knew what was needed and why. We did not seek to replicate models that had already failed our communities. Effective solutions require space for what works and the removal of what does not. When systems remain unchanged, it is often because the same approaches and the same decision‑makers remain in place, while those achieving results continue to operate outside the structures that should support them.

This is an important consideration as the country moves toward the 2026 election year.

💙🖤🤍🌿ORGANISATIONAL TRANSITION MERGER

As signalled earlier this year, Te Rito Foundation will be undertaking organisational changes by the end of this month. We are preparing to merge with a respected entity with extensive experience in:

- s*xual abuse trauma
- rehabilitation
- professional services contracting
- kaupapa Māori practice
- and the development of mana wahine and Pa Harakeke‑centred capability

This transition will strengthen our delivery, expand our reach, and support the continued development of Māori‑led systems of care and protection. It reflects continuity of purpose rather than departure. Our kaupapa remains the same: strengthening whānau, upholding rangatiratanga, and contributing to constitutional integrity grounded in Te Tiriti and He Whakaputanga.

We also acknowledge the ongoing support of our Treaty legal team, Mahony Horner in Wellington, whose expertise continues to guide this next phase of our development as we transition from a company to a trust in May.

No reira e te iwi, whanau kotahi tatou o te mōtu; kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui. Ko te hapai kei muri, ko te hapai ki mua,

Raewyn Kapa
Director /Kai Rangahau /Kai Whakahaere
Te Rito Foundation

Mauri ora 💙🖤🤍🌿

02/03/2026

On behalf of Te Rito Foundation, I am pleased to announce that all items from the previous listings have been gifted to the Seventh Day Adventist Church Kaikohe in support of its church ministry in Kaikohe. Te Rito Foundation wishes its whanau and families, workings, outreach, service and ministry to its community every blessing of prosperity, hope and well-being for the future.
Nga mihi nui

Raewyn Kapa
Te Rito Foundation

Mauri Ora 💙🤍🖤✝️🕊🌿

13/02/2026

Te Rito Foundation Platform Announcement | Waitangi Tribunal – Crown Position Statement Sitting (Today) 💙🤍🖤🌿

Today, the Waitangi Tribunal convened an open public hearing to hear the Crown’s Position Statement, setting out the Crown’s formal stance across a number of active kaupapa before the Tribunal.

As this was a public sitting, I am sharing this update across my platforms in the interests of transparency, accountability, and informed participation.

The Crown’s position broadly reaffirmed its established approach to Treaty interpretation, statutory authority, and the limits it places on constitutional transformation within existing legal and governance frameworks. The statement addressed matters relevant to both historical and contemporary claims, outlining the Crown’s view on jurisdiction, scope, remedies, and the relationship between tikanga Māori, Treaty principles, and Crown sovereignty.

Of particular relevance, the Crown’s position intersected with WAI 2945 and WAI 2700, in which Te Rito Foundation is a participating claimant entity; and the foundational premises underpinning our engagement in WAI 3300 – the Constitutional Inquiry, which directly interrogates the Crown’s ongoing assumptions about authority, decision-making power, and constitutional legitimacy.

From a strategic standpoint, today’s sitting reinforces why Māori participation in the constitutional inquiry space is not optional, but essential. The Crown’s framing continues to prioritise continuity of the status quo, underscoring the importance of claimant-led analysis, evidence, and challenge within WAI 3300.

We remain focused on long-term outcomes, intergenerational equity, and structural reform grounded in Te Tiriti o Waitangi—not just procedural compliance.

The livestream can be viewed to our claimant audience at the link below. A copy of our Executive Summary responses can be obtained by request to [email protected].

Nga mihi nui 💙🤍🖤🌿

Terms and Conditions for ViewingPermission to view the live stream or a recorded hearing is subject to the restrictions set out in the Waitangi Tribunal’s me...

28/01/2026

Te Rito Foundation 🖤💙🤍🌿

10 Years Leadership Transition for Change
💙🤍🖤🌿

Te Rito began in 2016 as a restoration forum for parents whose children had been removed from their care. It emerged directly from lived experience of the care and protection system and the absence of any parent-focused support for families navigating Oranga Tamariki interventions.

In November 2016, a collective of affected whānau came together. That meeting provided the mandate. It was the catalyst and ignition point for this project.

In 2018, Te Rito formalized its structure and became Te Rito Foundation, taking the form of a company. At that point, it became the first whānau foundation established specifically for whānau of Oranga Tamariki. That fact alone defines its purpose.

Te Rito was created to address a clear and enduring system failure:

- there was no kaupapa Māori, Treaty-based organization designed specifically to support parents whose children had been removed into care and protection.

What began as an affirmative restoration forum has, over time, evolved. Through experience, challenge, and sustained advocacy, Te Rito now operates as a progressive kaupapa Māori specialist whānau support and advocacy foundation.

Te Rito is progressive — not affirmative.

Its focus is not symbolic redress, preference, or default collectivisation. Its focus is effective restoration: restoring parental capability, restoring lawful and procedurally fair decision-making, and restoring viable pathways for the return of children to their parent families, wherever safety can be sustainably achieved.

Te Rito exists to support parent families of children and grandchildren Māori taken into care and protection. While wider whānau connections remain important, Te Rito's purpose is explicit:

the primary objective is the restoration of children to their parents — not permanent displacement into collective care where parents are willing, capable, and properly supported to resume responsibility.

Te Rito's work is grounded in:

🖤The Treaty of Waitangi, including partnership, protection, and sovereignty

🤍Māori rights to determination of their children

💙The Care of Children Act 2004 and parental guardianship responsibilities

🌿The Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, including the requirement that removal be a last resort and reunification remain a live and actively pursued objective

Over the past ten years, I have advocated fastidiously in this space — consistently, deliberately, and in accordance with the mandate given by the collective that met in November 2016. I have taken this project as far as I can.

The work is not finished — but my leadership of it is effective from 29 March 2026. Ten years of its vision evolved for greater growth and progress for Maori children.

💙🤍🖤🌿Expressions of Interest Invited

Expressions of Interest are invited from individuals or collectives who align with this kaupapa and who have experience in care and protection, policy, social services, or Indigenous advocacy, and who are prepared to carry this work forward with new vision, new leadership, and renewed direction — focused on progress, restoration, and recalibration of whānau systems so they work for our children and grandchildren, and for the restoration of their whānau and their parent families.

This announcement signals intent.

A formal Request for Interest (ROI) outlining governance, leadership expectations, and transition parameters will be released in March.

Until then, this statement stands as notice of direction.

All inquiries, expressions of interest, or preliminary discussions email to [email protected].
Alternatively, direct message through our page or social platform messages or call at the button here.

It has been my privilege and honour to take this kaupapa amid significant controversy to lead it our to the parameters it has and endured these 10 years.

I look forward to new leadership doing even greater for it for better futures of reunification of tamariki with their parent whanau,

Nga mihi rangatira,

Raewyn Kapa
Director
Rito Foundation 🖤💙🤍🌿

25/12/2025

🎄 Christmas Acknowledgement to Whānau 🎄

This Christmas, we acknowledge the parents and whānau who are experiencing parental alienation — whether through care and protection processes, court proceedings, or circumstances that have placed distance between parents and their children.

We recognise the isolation many families feel at this time of year. The silence. The absence. The weight of not being together.

The image shared here is not produced by Te Rito Foundation. We acknowledge Parental Alienation Awareness and share this message in support and solidarity, allowing the image to speak for itself while we stand with whānau across Aotearoa New Zealand.

As we reflect on the season, we hold fast to the message of peace, love, joy, and hope — echoed in this year’s Christmas message from King Charles — and we extend that hope to every family navigating separation and uncertainty.

To those parents holding their children in their hearts today: You are seen. You are not forgotten.May love and hope remain with you and your whānau.

Meri Kirihimete. Mauri ora
🎅🎁🎄🤍🖤❤️🌿

16/12/2025

🕊🕎🤍💙🌿HE WHAKAMAHARATANGA KI NGĀ MATE O BONDI, AUSTRALIA 🇦🇺

"In this world of antisemitic indifference, in death there is unity of love, kindness, humanity and compassion. May the eternal power of good supremacy versus evil prevail in memory of the lives taken by terrorist will and hand. As nations, may all draw the lines of law between right and wrong for the well-being and good of all people".

Condolences with love to the families of Bondi Beach tragedy, Australia.

May they find comfort in the kindness of all who share their grief 🕊🕎✡️🤍🖤❤️🌿

Kia manaakitia te hunga kua riro i te aituā ki te rangatiratanga mutunga kore o tō rātou Kaihanga Kaha Rawa, kia okioki ai rātou i roto i te rangimārie 🕊🤍💙🤍💙🤍💙🤍💙🕎✡️🌿