Geanna Bradley. Ariel Sellers, also known as Isabella Kalua.
The names of these lost children, and so many others over the years, conjure feelings of sadness, righteous indignation and anger over the failings of the network put in place to protect them. And in the latest effort to rein in that system, a new state audit has outlined needed changes crucial to keeping the children safe.
The girls, ages 10 and 6 at the time their deaths came to light, had gone through the state’s child-welfare agency. Ariel had been in foster care but ultimately was adopted when in 2021 she was reported missing from her Waimanalo home; her parents are awaiting trial, charged with her murder and abuse.
The public learned of the more recent tragedy on Jan. 18, when Geanna’s body was found in a Wahiawa foster home; prosecutors have alleged that she was bound with duct tape, locked in a small room and starved.
Avoiding such heinous outcomes is the aim of a report issued Monday by the Office of the Auditor, evaluating the Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare Services Branch.
Among the key findings:
>> Child Welfare’s licensing of foster homes often falls short of compliance with legal requirements, “creating risks that foster children were in unsafe or inappropriate homes.”
>> The state lost “a significant amount” of federal funds, which can reimburse the state for eligible foster care payments to licensed homes, because the state was not able to claim such funds for foster homes with only provisional certificates.
>> DHS reimbursed its contractors’ personnel and administrative costs without an assessment of performance goals being met.
On that last point, the focus was placed on Catholic Charities, which has contracted with DHS to provide “recruitment, training, assessment and required document collection” for applicants seeking licenses for foster homes for specific children.
In particular, the report asserts that Catholic Charities — which gets up to $2 million a year — did not complete the licensing of child-specific homes within 90 days as required, enabling households to accept foster children on an extended, temporary but unlicensed basis.
In a written statement, Catholic Charities said it wished the auditor had met with the organization, noting that in many cases, home studies are delayed because applicants withdraw, families are reunited or other issues. The organization also countered criticism about a lack of monitoring by DHS, citing regular meetings.
Still, there will be work for new DHS leadership to do.
Cathy Betts, the current DHS director, will step down in May to take a post as executive director of the Hawaii State Bar Association. Gov. Josh Green has named former legislator Ryan Yamane to replace her.
Before joining the Green administration in 2022 as deputy director of the Department of Human Resources Development, Yamane chaired the House Committee on Health, Human Services and Homelessness. So he should be familiar with the persistent challenges DHS faces in providing foster care for Hawaii’s many children in need.
And the challenges are indeed daunting. Recruiting parents capable of shouldering the care of children referred to foster care is a monumental task, and it is mounting, along with the social problems that leave these children vulnerable. DHS has made efforts to curb the bureaucratic tangle of licensing, in 2021 launching a new online portal for prospective parents, in an effort to streamline the process. Hiring Catholic Charities was meant to support this move.
But there’s so much more to be done, based on the concerning findings of the report. Yamane needs to oversee and work with Catholic Charities to see that it can achieve its contractual duty, the timely licensing of foster homes. A core mission of the agency is indeed, as the audit pointedly notes, “to protect children who have been harmed or are in circumstances that threaten harm.”
