Shedding light on a sad phenomenon
By Anne Harpham
In April, Advertiser staff writer Mike Gordon wrote about a 12-year-old developmentally disabled boy who ran away from a foster home.
As it turned out, the missing boy, who had been a ward of the state for two years when his parents' rights were terminated, had been with family friends.
Gordon's stories, detailing the plight of the child and his return to Child Welfare Services authorities, revealed that:
Gordon's two stories, the first on April 21 and the second, a day later, were both solid. compelling stories. The boy was found safe.
That could have been the end of it. Gordon had other projects to turn his attention to.
But holding institutions accountable is at the heart of a newspaper's commitment to its community. And Gordon, who broke the story of Peter Boy Kema in April 1998 and has doggedly pursued the tragic story ever since, knew there had to be something more.
So did others. "Something is wrong and something is broken," state Rep. Dennis Arakaki told Gordon when he was working on these two stories. The foster boy's father wondered why state officials never contacted him when they were looking for the child.
How many other children in the foster-care system were missing, we wondered.
On April 22, the day after the first story about the runaway foster child, Gordon filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act with the state Department of Human Services asking how many other children in the state foster care system were missing.
Some stories take perseverance, and this was one of them.
It was two months before we had the information we sought. In a story last Sunday, the public learned there are 38 children who were placed in state care for a variety of reasons and are missing. The state does not know if these children are in safe homes or are on the streets. He also learned there are some 2,500 foster children being cared for by the state on any given day.
All of the children were reported to police as runaways. And DHS had a list of children reported missing as of April but names of children who were reported missing earlier than April were not included. The department told Gordon that to comply with the FOIA request, it would ask its social workers to supply names of other runaway children.
In late May, we received from the state a list of the missing foster children, but no photos, and the list was current only to April.
We went back to the state officials, asking for photos of the missing children.
In late June, the department provided photos and a revised list of names through May 31, but there were questions about some of the identifications.
Again, we held up publication until that was sorted out.
Finally, on June 24, Gordon was notified he likely would get the photos the next week. He did, and editors scheduled the story for the Sunday, July 3, paper.
We did not get all 38, but the photos of 22 youngsters put a human face on a compelling story of lost chances and sad lives. It was worth waiting for.
Although it took longer than we hoped, the state Department of Human Services put a lot of effort into the request and clearly expressed urgency in shedding light on the problem.
As of midday Friday, three of the children had been found, one the day before the story ran and two after the story. If you have information that might help locate the missing teens, call 911. For a list of foster children reported missing through May 31, and their photos, go to: the.honoluluadver tiser.com/article/2005/Jul/03/ ln/ln04p.html
Advertiser Senior Editor
