We asked tamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary and rangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary Māori who are or have been involved in the oranga tamariki system what they think about their future aspirations.
Regardless of how tamariki or rangatahi Māori were involved in the oranga tamariki system, almost all151 of the tamariki and rangatahi Māori who talked about their future aspirations in our 2024/25 regional engagements were positive about their future.
“I want to be the first kid in my family to graduate. I’m Year 11 but got put up to Year 12, which I’m proud of. If I finish school next year, I’ll be the first to graduate. I want to get [university entrance] and save for a car. I’m enrolled in school and a mentor at course. I’m slowly getting my licence. My long-term plan is to be a lawyer and own a car. In the meantime, I want to finish school, save money and get [university entrance] to study a Bachelor of Laws.”
“I want to be a flight attendant so I can travel the world.”
“[I want to be] someone who can make a difference in the world and perhaps have a role in any country and any place – just walk in and have an opinion, it matters.”
“I want to do bone carving next.”
“I want to be a fashion designer. I want to go to get a degree in fashion. When I get older, I am going to go to university and study business. I can slowly and steadily build up my business once I have become a fashion designer.”
“I want to go out a lot to the gym. I wanna travel, go to the South Island for a trip. I have only ever been to Auckland.”
“[I want] to get money. Not to be homeless.”
“I plan to do something like a barista course.”
“I want to be a pilot. I love seeing different countries and speaking new languages. I’m learning on [language learning app].”
151 In our 2024/25 regional engagements, we heard from 130 tamariki
Children (plural) aged 0-13 yearsView the full glossary and rangatahi
Young person aged 14 – 21 years of ageView the full glossary Māori. Of those, we heard from 75 about their future aspirations. Of the 75 tamariki and rangatahi Māori, very few were not positive about their futures, and this number met our threshold to be suppressed (see our website for our methodology). In our regional engagements, we do not specifically ask all tamariki and rangatahi about their future aspirations. In engagements where tamariki and rangatahi are asked for, or offer, information about their future aspirations, it is recorded as part of our monitoring approach.