Change needed in Child Welfare policies
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Behind each of the 2,100 children currently in foster care in Hawai'i, there is a story of neglect and abuse.
There are times when programs such as drug rehabilitation or family counseling are enough to reunite the child with his or her parents — which should always be the goal in foster care.
But there are other times when a case is so egregious, and the mistreatment so severe, that a return to the family home leaves the child more vulnerable to harm. Yes, keeping families together should be a priority, but never at the expense of a child's safety.
Such appears to have been the case with Peter Boy Kema, Reubyne Buentipo Jr. and Cedra Edwards — all of whom were abused, turned over to authorities, then harmed again once they were returned to their parents. Reubyne, then only 4, was beaten so badly by his mother in 1997 that he remains in a vegetative state today. Peter disappeared in 1997 after being returned to his parents. Cedra, a mere 20 months old, was fatally abused by her mother.
And now there is the tragic story of Denise and Melvin Wright Jr., who allegedly starved their 12 year-old daughter — something they were accused of doing seven years ago after a neighbor's complaint led to the discovery of the then-5-year-old girl locked in a room with no food, water or bathroom access.
In 2000, the emaciated girl was returned to her parents after one month, and the criminal records of her parents were removed after they completed court-mandated parenting classes, as reported by Honolulu Advertiser writer Peter Boylan. This despite the severity of the abuse.
Each heart-wrenching case highlights a flawed process at Child Welfare Services, where guidelines must be re-evaluated to ensure the safety of these vulnerable children.
The calls for change have been made before.
In an e-mailed response to The Advertiser, Department of Human Services Director Lillian Koller said that "Each case must be assessed depending on the age of the child, the type of child abuse and/or neglect report, the severity and frequency of the harm or threat of harm to the child and the willingness of the parents to acknowledge responsibility for the harm."
But one need only review the cases mentioned above to see that more safeguards are needed. Though some of the early cases predate Koller's term, she now has the opportunity and the obligation to make changes to the system.
Currently, Hawai'i law does not require the state to follow up on misdemeanor cases of criminal child abuse. But that law does not take into account the varying degrees of abuse. In more serious cases, the state should be mandated to monitor the safety of the child, regardless of whether the parents were first-time offenders.
By its very name — Child Welfare Services — the state agency is responsible for the lives and welfare of these children, most of whom are unable to defend themselves. To do this, the state must learn from these cases and strengthen its policies to ensure that those in the system have something every child deserves: a chance to live a healthy, happy life.
