EDITORIAL
Child welfare is a job for the whole society

It's a sad commentary on society's commitment to its children when a top social services official acknowledges it is "likely" Hawai'i will fail a federal review of our overall child welfare program even before the review takes place.

In advance of that federal review team, due next week, state lawmakers took a look at a study on child abuse and neglect issues. The study was prepared by a commission — "Blueprint for Change" — set up in 1994 to delve into child welfare.

Two major factors put our children at risk, the commission found:

• Growing use of drugs — particularly ice — among children but more importantly among adults in the families that are supposed to care for them. Substance abuse is involved in up to 85 percent of the cases involving the 13,000 children under the purview of the state's Child Welfare Services.

• A lack of coordination and focus among the dozens of well-meaning public and private agencies concerned with child welfare. There is competition for money, duplication of services and agencies working at cross purposes.

Perhaps the federal review will force a coming together of the minds of those involved in child welfare so that services can be coordinated, precious dollars can be used where they are most needed and more money can be put into treatment rather than being spent on cleaning up these tragic wrecks after they occur.