Dr Luke Fitzmaurice
Lecturer
Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington
Research area: Children’s participation, child protection and child welfare, indigenous children’s rights, critical indigenous studies, Kaupapa Māori, Te Tiriti o Waitangi
Education: Luke has completed his PhD in Law at Otago University in Aotearoa New Zealand, focused on children’s participation in the context of the child protection system. His research sits between law, policy and social work practice. In particular it focuses on tamariki Māori (indigenous children) and the potential tension, from an indigenous perspective, between the rights of children and the rights of whānau (families) in the child protection system. He is using a kaupapa Māori methodology to centre indigenous perspectives in the research. In 2010 he completed a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) and in 2013 he completed a Bachelor of Laws at VUW. In 2017 he completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Child-Centred Practice at Otago University, and in 2020 he completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Indigenous Studies at VUW.
Research and work experience: Luke is currently teaching a range of law modules at the Victoria University of Wellington, and his teaching interests are primary focused on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Child Protection and Children’s Rights. Prior to completing his PhD, study Luke spent seven years working in the New Zealand child protection system. His work was a combination of policy, operational policy and direct work with children and young people in state care. Between 2017 and 2020 was part of the ‘Voices of Children and Young People Team’, a team established to embed children and young people’s voices throughout the child protection system (which was being reformed during that period). He also worked within youth justice, operational policy and service design. During his doctoral studies, Luke has worked as a Research Assistant in the Social Work Department at Otago University, a Tutor at Te Kawa a Maui (the Māori studies department) at Victoria University and a Tutor in the Law Faculty at Victoria University.
Publications, Conferences & Engagement
Whānau, Tikanga and Tino Rangatiratanga – What is at Stake in the Debate over the Ministry for Children?
Engaging Children and Young People in the Policy Process: Lessons Learned from the Development of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy
Children’s voices in system reform – A case study on children and young people’s partcipation within the modernisation of Child, Youth and Family
Fitzmaurice, L (MAI Journal of Indigenous Scholarship, 2020)
Luke's paper argues that the overrepresentation of tamariki Māori (indigenous children) within the New Zealand child protection system is in part a legacy of colonisation, and solutions to address the overrepresentation much address that broader issue. This includes considering the rights of whānau (family), not just in terms of individual families but also in terms of whānau as a foundational societal institution for Māori prior to colonisation.
Brown, K; Fitzmaurice, L; Milne, K; Provoost, D (Policy Quarterly, 2020)
This article describes the approach taken by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner and Oranga Tamariki – Ministry for Children to engaging children and young people in the development of the Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy, a cross-government initiative designed to drive action on child and youth wellbeing.
Fitzmaurice, L (Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 2017)
In 2015, an independent panel was appointed to overhaul Aotearoa New Zealand’s care, protection and youth justice systems. Luke's article discusses the mechanisms used to involve children and young people in that review and evaluates the extent to which these mechanisms lived up to best practice.
The Spinoff Series
The Spinoff Series
The Spinoff Series
Luke Fitzmaurice, 2020
This series of stories on The Spinoff (a New Zealand news website) discussed the ongoing claim against Oranga Tamariki (New Zealand’s child protection agency) at the Waitangi Tribunal (a standing commission of inquiry which investigates alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document).
For the first article follow the link below:
Luke Fitzmaurice, 2020
This series of stories on The Spinoff (a New Zealand news website) discussed the ongoing claim against Oranga Tamariki (New Zealand’s child protection agency) at the Waitangi Tribunal (a standing commission of inquiry which investigates alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document).
For the second article in the series follow the link below:
Luke Fitzmaurice, 2020
This series of stories on The Spinoff (a New Zealand news website) discussed the ongoing claim against Oranga Tamariki (New Zealand’s child protection agency) at the Waitangi Tribunal (a standing commission of inquiry which investigates alleged breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document).
For the final article in the series follow the link below: