Thomas Adam Blas Sr. and Brandy Kanani Blas —
legal guardians of 10-year-old Geanna Bradley — and Brandy’s mother, Debra D. Geron, were charged with murder Friday, three weeks after Geanna’s lifeless body was found emaciated and bruised, with broken teeth, open sores and missing part of her nose.
On Thursday, the medical examiner determined that Geanna died of “starvation, blunt force injuries due to multiple assaults, prolonged physical restraint and immobilization, pneumonia and medical neglect.”
It’s not yet known how long Geanna endured the unimaginably cruel, “prolonged” harms perpetrated against her, or what, if any, investigations the state had conducted before guardianship was granted to the Blases, who shared a home with Geron. All three adults are now charged with second-degree murder, kidnapping and first-degree unlawful imprisonment. State Child Welfare Services (CWS) records are veiled by privacy rules, but the agency says there had been no reports of suspected child abuse against the family.
It sickens to think that Geanna’s sustained abuse was as hidden from CWS or the police as it was from neighbors, medical providers and school authorities. But children placed in legal guardianships or adopted are not subject to CWS home visits, and Geanna hadn’t seen a doctor or attended school since 2022. This is why it’s
blatantly wrong for the state to wash its hands so fully of children who are often already abandoned, abused or otherwise in need of nurturing, as soon as a family offers to take on their permanent care.
Changes in the law are possible to protect children more fully, and the Legislature must pursue these changes with all urgency.
Critical checkpoints exist to protect infants and children from being placed in harm’s way, such as a court hearing to grant guardianship. This should include a thorough report on the potential guardians’ suitability for parenthood and the safety of the home. If the process hasn’t proven adequate to detect warning signs or prevent unsuitable potential “parents” from gaining permanent custody rights, it must be revised.
Stricter guidelines for finding parents suitable should be enacted. Adults with extended criminal records — particularly where violence is concerned — or civil records indicating a predilection for “cheating the system,” must be excluded. In this case, Brandy Blas and her mother, Geron, faced multiple civil cases involving financial claims. Thomas Blas had 18 prior arrests and citations, including for felony assault and car theft.
Home visits over an extended period before guardianship or adoptive rights are granted must be required, to lessen the possibility that malicious would-be guardians evade scrutiny.
Urgent reform of the gaping flaw in monitoring vulnerable children withdrawn from school must also be undertaken. In 2022, Geanna was withdrawn to be home schooled, but the Department of Education and CWS do not communicate. This critical juncture, when a vulnerable child is removed from school, is often the last, best opportunity for a potentially life-saving intervention — and it must be addressed with law that will require a CWS notification and follow-up in those cases where a child has received CWS services.
After the 2021 disappearance and presumed death of Isabella Kalua — who was adopted by a Waimanalo family, pulled from school and then allegedly starved and tortured — legislation mandating home visits for adoptive families was introduced, but it was criticized as too broad. Gov. David Ige vetoed House Bill 2424 in 2022, calling it unconstitutional. The substance of that bill, however, is defensible, and should be revisited. When any credible report of abuse against a former foster child, now adopted, has been made, the law must require more investigation take place.
Upstanding parents with the means to shelter an at-risk infant or child must speak up; public officials must make child welfare a top priority; and those with reason to report suspected abuse must speak up. All play a part in protecting our most vulnerable children.
