Child justice center pleads for new site

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Faced with aging, inadequate facilities and ever-growing numbers of sexually abused children to treat, the Children's Justice Center of O'ahu is asking the Legislature to provide $3.5 million to purchase a Kaka'ako property for a new building.

Judy Lind, statewide director of the Children's Justice Center, is counting on the state Senate to provide money to purchase a Kaka'ako property for a new building. The center has been operating out of a small facility in Nu'uanu. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

Hopes rest with the Senate, which will take up its version of the state budget today, amid a struggling economy and other needs vying for limited money.

"Unless the Senate puts it in (the budget) this week, it's not in," said Judy Lind, statewide director of the Children's Justice Center. "This is our one chance to get that land."

Senate Ways and Means vice chairwoman Colleen Hanabusa, D-21st (Barbers Point, Makaha) supports the idea of a private nonprofit supporting public services but said the money is the problem.

"It is not a matter of people not being committed to the concept," Hanabusa said. "It's really where are we going to find the money. (Lawmakers) are not going to be willing to raise taxes in this (election year). It is part of the Judiciary, which has its own priorities, and if they don't get down to their number, it will not be funded. That's what it comes down to, but I've got my fingers crossed that we can come up with something."

"There will always be another project that somebody else needs," said Jim Wagner, president of the nonprofit Friends of Children's Justice Center of O'ahu. "But nobody else is offering to kick in 75 percent of the cost. Nobody else is offering to raise money for a state facility."

The state operates the Children's Justice Center of O'ahu under the auspices of the Judiciary. The center opened in 1988 and was expected to handle about 450 cases of sexually abused children a year. Last year, 1,314 children were treated at the center, nearly double the number of just five years ago.

And with the center's area of responsibility growing, far more children are served at the O'ahu facility in Nu'uanu.

The center's small waiting room has only four chairs, and there are no rooms for police or Child Protective Services agents to work in, Lind said. Volunteers were forced to move out of the building to make room for staff, and the three interview rooms are used for nearly 1,000 more cases per year than the facility was intended to handle.

"There is no room for medical or counseling services here," Lind said. "We have one crisis worker who shares a space with our research statistician. There is nowhere to meet with families privately."

The new facility would include offices designed for all the associated programs, assuring better communication, coordination and follow-through among the agencies and families, Lind said.

"We are in Nu'uanu, (Child Protective Services) is in Kalihi and Kapolei, HPD is downtown," Lind said. "We want to have them all in one place and to put in medical, counseling and community support services."

After any report of child sexual abuse is made to police, the military or the FBI, the child is brought to the center for an interview.

"The goal is to have a fair, neutral process to investigate sexual abuse so that if something has happened, the children and the community can both be protected," Lind said. "That's one reason we videotape every interview. If the child needs to be removed from the home, Child Protective Services takes them to a foster home."

Barbara Mullen, director of the child sex abuse treatment program at Catholic Charities, said the center has been effective in helping victims and families by limiting the trauma involved.

"It's really child friendly," Mullen said. "It's a very intimidating and scary procedure for kids, who just want the sex abuse to stop. That's why they tell somebody."

Mullen said the new facility would allow families to be referred to the services they need quickly and easily. If it isn't made easy, many families never follow through, she said.

"Most of the time a family is in such shock after disclosure, and it is pure chaos," Mullen said. "They need help quickly before the perpetrator can manipulate the family with excuses. If you can get them into treatment quickly, the victim is validated. The worst thing is when the victim gets blamed, and that happens all the time."

The Judiciary has asked for the money to buy the property, now owned by Kamehameha Schools, in its 2002 CIP budget request, but it is ranked second in priority following a $64 million request for a new courthouse in Hilo.

Lind said the property was found after a two-year search and is perfect because it is in the central urban area and near the Circuit and Family courts. The Friends group cannot simply buy the property outright because Kamehameha Schools has a policy of not selling off land assets and it must be condemned by the state if the deal is going to happen.

"Kamehameha Schools is receptive to the condemnation process, so it is very important that the state is the one to put the money up," Wagner said. "We need the state to condemn it."

Money for the project is not included in the House version of the state budget, Lind said, so she is counting on the Senate. She worries that if the property is not purchased this year, Kamehameha Schools will come up with another use for the site.

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.