Foster agency to leave Islands
By Scott Ishikawa
Advertiser Staff Writer
Casey Family Programs, which has provided foster care and adoptive services to 700 children in Hawai'i, has announced plans to close its Honolulu and Hilo offices.
But a local official with the nonprofit organization said it will not abandon children now being served and won't close its doors for the next one to two years, or even longer.
"We don't want our families and children to feel like we're just walking away from them; we will continue to serve the children currently in our program until their needs are met," said Casey's Honolulu office director, Linda Santos. About 100 Hawai'i children are under Casey programs, she said.
The organization announced Thursday that the restructuring will mean the eventual shutdown of 10 offices nationwide and affect all 26 of its offices. It will also mean a reduction of 250 employees, a third of its staff of 750.
Santos said the agency plans to lay off 28 of its 38 employees in Honolulu by Feb. 13. Another 13 of 19 staff members in Hilo will also be let go. The agency began operations in Honolulu in 1984 and in Hilo in 1989.
While Casey's Hawai'i caseload is considered small, its shutdown here will hurt the state Department of Human Services, which along with other state departments is facing 5 percent across-the-board budget cuts. The private organization is the only one providing long-term foster care and adoption for abused children on a larger scale, Santos said.
It also means a loss of other programs that the state couldn't provide, she said.
Those programs include long-term foster care in keeping children stable in one home, and providing career and educational counseling to foster children after they reach 18, to help them make a smoother transition into adulthood.
The Casey organization also works in conjunction with another nonprofit adoption agency — the Adoption Connection — in conducting mentoring and tutoring programs.
"Until we close, what we will do is take care of the 100 who are still here," Santos said. "My main job is to find ways to continue serving these children until they are ready to be on their own."
Casey Family Programs president and CEO Ruth Massinga said the agency knew two years ago that it needed to reorganize.
"Our goal is to integrate the best practices from our offices around the country, to streamline our operations, and to focus more intensely on collaborations," Massinga said. "Making the decision to close offices and lay off staff is extremely difficult for us. Yet, in order to respond to the increasing numbers of children that are entering the system, we need to devote more resources to impacting the state and national systems that impact all foster care children — like child welfare, education, juvenile justice, drug treatment and mental healthcare."
Casey Family Programs serves approximately 17,000 children directly and through collaborations. Casey plans to reach more than 100,000 children nationally over the next several years, Massinga said.
The agency was established 37 years ago by Jim Casey, founder of United Parcel Service.
