'Steady progress' made in finding runaways
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Five foster children who had been reported missing were found last week, but two new names were added to the state's list of runaway foster children.
As of Friday afternoon, 60 foster children were on the Department of Human Services' missing list. The department last month began to list the names and photos of missing foster children in an effort to find them.
The state did not identify the children who were returned to foster care this week. But officials did name the two children who were added to the list. They are:
Derick Dahilig, Department of Human Services spokesman, said it is too early to say whether the program is a success. But he did say "we've been finding kids every week."
"We can say that we've been making steady progress. We are finding children, whether it's been through tips or the kids actually turning themselves in," Dahilig said.
He said publicizing the children's information in the newspaper and on the Internet also seems to be helping.
"It's a combination of people giving tips to police and them finding them or kids just knowing that their pictures are in the paper or their pictures are on the Internet and they turn themselves in," he said.
Once the children are found, they are returned to foster care. Dahilig said the children and their foster families are then closely monitored.
"The social workers visit with the foster family and with the foster child. In the past there wasn't enough contact so they didn't really know what was going on or the issues in the home," Dahilig said. "Now they've been trying to increase social worker visits so that way they know what's going on with the family, they know what's going on with the child or the children, and hopefully that will deter (the children) from running."
Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.
