The Trustees of VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai have elected Shayne Walker and Mana Williams-Eade as Board Co-Chairs. Both Shayne and Mana bring tremendous heart and insight to the mahi of the organisation and together represent a formidable Board leadership team.
SHAYNE WALKER – VOYCE BOARD CO-CHAIR
Shane Walker, a senior lecturer at the University of Otago in the Social and Community Work Programme, is now the Board Chair of VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai. In 2019 Shayne was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to fostering children and social work.
An orphan at age 13, Shayne was put into state care after both of his parents died in a matter of weeks. He later went on, through Maatua Whangai, an approved iwi/Māori social service provider, to help foster 192 young people, predominantly Māori and Pacific young men, over 12 years.
A staunch advocate for caregivers in New Zealand, Shayne Walker, puts his success as a foster parent down to his ability to show love, build trust, and listen to people’s stories. He often sat and thought about all the people who had given him an exceptional life when he was a struggling and mixed-up teenager. That was what drove him to foster young people, often from troubled or difficult backgrounds.
“We never had one young person who came to us who was kind of was born bad… I hate the term,” says Shayne. “We had kids who had been mismanaged by adults, who had been let down by adults and so they taught us a lot, and they’re still teaching me.” Shayne Walker is still in contact with many of his foster sons, who were now adults, with homes, families, children and even grandchildren.
He is an unofficial kaumātua for Oranga Tamariki. He has been a member of various expert advisory bodies to take action against family and sexual violence. Shayne is currently on the Family Violence Death Review Committee and has served on the Child, Youth and Family Care and Protection Resources Panel.
VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai is privileged to have Shayne Walker’s remarkable insight and leadership as Board Co-Chair.
MANA WILLAIMS-EADE – VOYCE BOARD CO-CHAIR
Mana Williams-Eade is a Graduate Policy Analyst at Ministry of Social Development, a Masters student at Massey University, and Group Fitness Instructor at Les Mills. Several years ago, as a 16-year old Mana helped advise Ministers and senior government officials on how they could restructure and redesign what was then known as CYFS (or Child Youth and Family) into what is now known as Oranga Tamariki – the Ministry for Children.
Mana comments, “It was clear to me then that my voice (while in itself was not really that influential at all) could help encourage and inspire people at every level in every forum (including govt officials, iwi Māori organisations, children, young people and their families, and politicians) to recognise that people’s voices, particularly those who do not have a voice (like children), can really help shape and drive decisions that can lead to better more equitable outcomes for them, the out-of-touch/cold system’s that are determining their outcomes, and the way in which communities care about people without a voice.”
In 2018, Mana created the Charity Fundraiser Cycling for Tamariki, jumping on a stationary bike at Civic Square in Wellington and cycling for one minute for every child and young person in care – completely a staggering 6,300 minutes (or 4 days and 9 hours) and raising close to $5,000 for VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai.
After having been a board trustee at VOYCE for three and a half years, in April 2020 Mana was announced as the Board Deputy Chair of VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai. This saw the VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai Board taking another step towards its ambition of ensuring that the organisation is ultimately governed by the young and care-experienced.
Mana Williams-Eade has now been elected Board Co-Chair – he brings wisdom, thoughtfulness and fierce determination to improve things for young people in care to his role.