This podcast is about a gang whānau and their journey to speak out about the abuse they experienced as children in Aotearoa’s state-care system, and their hopes for a better future.

The Stolen Children of Aotearoa project began in 2018 when journalist Aaron Smale spoke to filmmaker Julian Arahanga at the Māoriland Film Festival. They’d both attended St Stephens School and this project was an opportunity to rekindle that connection.

Aaron had been investigating the disproportionately high number of Māori in prisons and had seen a link with childhoods spent in state care. He started to hear the stories of abuse and began to understand the scale of what had happened. He began reporting in 2016, and with other journalists, advocates, lawyers and survivors, was part of a groundswell that demanded that the government investigate, which eventually became a Royal Commission of Enquiry..

Survivors of abuse had ended up in prison and formed gangs that have since become household names such as the Mongrel Mob and Mangu Kaha. While the government was treating these people with punitive legislation, it was important that the wider public understand these people’s stories, with childhoods of abuse and torture.

Many survivors had managed to go out and live positive lives, but they too were haunted by trauma.

Video Documentary Streaming Now on MĀORI+

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details