meet Chappie Te Kani
Kevin Norquay is meeting CEOs all over the country, getting their stories. This week, the final week of the series, he talks to Oranga Tamariki's Chappie Te Kani.
Being Oranga Tamariki chief executive is a tough gig; at one end a bad news cyclone, at the other a public wanting results. Yet Chappie Te Kani is all civil service with a smile as he evokes his past to move into the future.
Te Kani (Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Māhaki, Tūhoe, Ngāti Maniapoto, Rongowhakaata) rises from a desk tucked away in a corner of the Oranga Tamariki head office, advancing with a grin and an extended hand.
In those hands lie the fate of thousands of children, for whom he is the statutory guardian, their protector. It is his job to ensure appropriate policies and practices for tamariki and rangatahi in the youth justice system, and those taken into care, unable to be cared for by whānau.
Link to article: He's the legal father of thousands: meet Chappie Te Kani | Stuff.co.nz
