Māori youth are over-represented in the negative indices for youth court apprehensions (8.3 times higher than non-Māori) (Ministry of Justice, 2020). Despite this, there is a dearth of research about the experiences of rangatahi Māori who offend, and their whānau (Suaalii-Sauni, Tauri & Webb, 2018).This project builds on recent PhD findings (Cliffe-Tautari, 2021) which indicated that Māori youth who offend, and their whānau, experience considerable trauma in their lives prior to, and during the times of rangatahi’ offending; including trauma resulting from state intervention into their lives.

This project, grounded in kaupapa Māori methodologies will engage up to six whānau Māori to participate in a one-day Thought Space Wānanga (Smith, Pihama, Cameron, Mataki, Morgan & Te Nana, 2019) to investigate: How does trauma impact Māori youth who offend, and their whānau, and how can their experiences and Māori approaches to Trauma Informed Care (TIC) shape youth justice law and policy to foster whānau flourishing? The findings will be analysed against social policy responses to both whānau rangatiratanga and Māori approaches to TIC in youth justice and social service settings. The legislative and policy implications will be analysed, with recommendations made for law and policy reform.