A Far North Māori social services agency says it's been able to stop children being taken into state care by getting whānau to take responsibility instead.
Oranga Tamariki has been under intense scrutiny over the number of Māori children being removed from their families.
Katie Murray from Waitomo Papakainga in Kaitaia says the Ministry deserves thanks for making children's lives safe.
But she told RNZ reporter Meriana Johnsen that since October they've stopped 47 children ending up in state care by making the most of whānau resources.
"This is how our tūpuna used to do it... Sometimes our grandparents used to just walk in and say 'okay we're having the mokopuna for three weeks and you both get your stuff together'.
"So we like to think that it's not an ultimatum, but it's the choice that should be given to our whānau, before the State has the last choice," Ms Murray says.
