Puao-te-ata-tu 1988, a report of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on a Māori Perspective for the Department of Social Welfare presented to Parliament, found "the heart of the issue [of the failure of our child protection service] is a profound misunderstanding or ignorance of the place of the child in Maori society and its relationship with whānau, hapū, iwi structures. … no exaggeration to say, as we do in our report that in many ways the picture we have received is one of crisis proportions. … We make recommendations for a comprehensive approach accordingly."