Whāngai adoption, often referred to simply as whāngai (literally, "to nourish"), is a traditional method of

open adoption Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal information and have an option of contact. While open adoption is a relatively new phenomenon in the west, it ...

among the

Māori people The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several ce ...

of New Zealand. Whāngai is a community process rather than a legal process, and usually involves a child being brought up by a close relative, either because his or her parents have died or because they are unable to look after the child. The adoptive parent is known as a ''matua whāngai'', and the child is called a ''tamaiti whāngai''. The child knows both its birth and whāngai parents, and the local community and extended

whānau Whānau () is Māori for extended family. It is also used in everyday New Zealand English, as well as in official publications. In Māori society, the whānau is also a political unit, below the levels of hapū (subtribe) and iwi (tribe or natio ...

is usually closely involved in the decision to adopt and in helping with the child's development. Whāngai may be temporary or permanent.Keane, Basil
Whāngai – customary fostering and adoption
" ''

Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand ''Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand'' is an online encyclopedia established in 2001 by the New Zealand Government's Ministry for Culture and Heritage. The web-based content was developed in stages over the next several years; the first s ...

'', 5 May 2011. Retrieved 4 March 2020. The whāngai system developed before the development of New Zealand's current legal rules on adoption and fostering and operates parallel with it, but is recognised by New Zealand law. It does not follow the strictures of the Adoption Act of 1955, for example, which supported the idea of a complete break between birth and adoptive families. The whāngai system is still in use in more traditional Māori communities. Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 provided a firmer legal basis for the practice, particularly in regards to inheritance law, and formalised whāngai as

tikanga Māori Tikanga is a Māori concept incorporating practices and values from mātauranga Māori, Māori knowledge. Tikanga is translated into the English language with a wide range of meanings — culture, custom, ethic, etiquette, fashion, formali ...

(Māori customary practice). There are still some restrictions within the law regarding the rights of whāngai children which differ from those of legally adopted children. Several well-known Māori have been brought up as ''tamaiti whāngai'', among them operatic singer

Inia Te Wiata Inia Morehu Tauhia Watene Iarahi Waihurihia Te Wiata (10 June 191526 June 1971) was a New Zealand Māori bass-baritone opera singer, film actor, whakairo (carver) and artist. Early life Inia Te Wiata was born in Ōtaki, New Zealand, into the ...

, comedian Billy T. James, senior public servant Wira Gardiner, netballer

Joline Henry Joline Henry (born 29 September 1982 in Whanganui, New Zealand) is a New Zealand netball player. Henry is a current member of the New Zealand national netball team, the Silver Ferns, and has played for the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Magic (2008-2009) ...

, and former

Governor-General of New Zealand The governor-general of New Zealand ( mi, te kāwana tianara o Aotearoa) is the viceregal representative of the monarch of New Zealand, currently King Charles III. As the King is concurrently the monarch of 14 other Commonwealth realms and li ...

Jerry Mateparae Lieutenant General Sir Jeremiah Mateparae (born 14 November 1954) is a former New Zealand soldier who served as the 20th Governor-General of New Zealand between 2011 and 2016, the second Māori person to hold the office, after Sir Paul Reeve ...

. The 2018 documentary ''Sharing the Love'' by Rochelle Umaga explores whāngai in modern New Zealand.Sharing the Love documentary brings Māori adoption custom whāngai to light
" ''

New Zealand Herald ''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand. It has the largest newspaper circulation of all newspapers ...

'', 27 December 2018. Retrieved 4 March 2020.

References

{{reflist Māori culture Māori words and phrases Māori society Adoption forms and related practices Adoption in New Zealand

See also

References