Island Voices
Legislature must approve tutu bills

By Jacqueline T. Chong
Kane'ohe Resident

There is a bill in each house of the state Legislature relating to kinship care of minor relatives. It’s call the Na Tutu bill — Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. It’s bottled up in committee because the elected Legislature won’t "hear" it.

It’s not the first time. Last year it was bottled up in the same committee in the House, same chairman. It passed the Senate but died in the House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee chaired by Rep. Eric Hamakawa. Calls and visits were made to his office. No response. Not even a courtesy call back. "He’s too busy to see you," was the response.

This year, same bill, but no change. "Sorry, he’s too busy." The Na Tutu bill will die again.

Grandparents have always played a major part of their grandchildren’s lives, especially in Hawai‘i. It’s a cultural thing, it’s family living, it’s ‘ohana. But today, grandparents are caring for their grandchildren on a 24-hour basis, "24-7." The parents have abandoned their children for various reasons: divorce, illness, drugs, alcohol, prison, abuse or plain neglect. Grandparents can do everything for their grandchildren but enroll them in school or have them receive medical attention.

The bill provides that grandparents who have been caring for their grandchildren for a specified time be allowed to present affidavits of consent (informal consent) that will allow them to enroll their grandchildren in school and have them receive school-related medical attention. It does not interfere with parental rights, for if the parents are available, there would be no need for "informal consent."

Grandparents are told to get guardianship, power of attorney (formal consent), adopt their own grandchildren or go to Child Protective Services. Not solutions. The first alternatives will cause financial burden, and going to CPS means declaring your own child an unfit parent, causing irreparable damage to an already-sensitive situation.

This is not a problem unique to Hawai‘i. It’s a nationwide problem and continues to grow. However, there are states that are facing up to these problems, not burying their heads in the sand, hoping they will go away.

Do grandparents have to form a union? Perhaps rally at the Capitol or hold fund-raisers to get attention? The Na Tutu bills may die this session as they did last session, but we will bring it up again next session and at election time.

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