"Maori groups in New Zealand are taking to the streets to protest family separations carried out by the child welfare agency and a planned development on their ancestral lands," according to this article from CNN. "Taking infants into state care -- known as "uplifting" -- has been making headlines in the country since mid-June when an investigation by local media outlet Newsroom showed authorities attempting to take a seven-day-old baby from its 19-year-old Maori mother while she was still in the maternity ward." Maori and Pacific Island children are disproportionately represented among those who are "uplifted," with 71% of the babies taken into care last year being of Maori or Pacific Island heritage. "On June 19, New Zealand's Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier announced a wide-ranging, independent investigation into the Ministry for Children's uplifting process."
