Hawaii’s Child Welfare Services (CWS) must overhaul its foster care operations, and the agency’s leadership has committed to get it done. There’s a catch, however: The full transformation is projected to take up to four years.

Some of the changes required will require time and much effort to accomplish, and that’s understandable. But there’s no room for delay in taking action to ensure additional children aren’t left in harm’s way — today — because of CWS’ failures in oversight.

The issues are outlined in a performance audit requested by the Legislature in 2022 and released in April. It exposed horrendous flaws in CWS’ foster care licensing procedures, leaving foster children vulnerable to abuse and mistreatment within the very homes meant to shelter them.

On Nov. 21, state Auditor Les Kondo presented some of the alarming findings to state lawmakers:

>> CWS routinely allowed “provisional” placement of foster children with unlicensed relatives for extended lengths of time, despite clear state policy establishing 60 days as the limit for this practice. This directly contradicts CWS’ responsibility to ensure that provisional foster homes become licensed, and to remove youths from unlicensed or unsatisfactory homes in a timely manner.

>> The agency contracted out nearly all its licensing services to Catholic Charities in 2019, then failed to monitor and evaluate compliance with the licensing process, despite its legal duty to do so, and to ensure children’s safety.

>> In 2019, CWS also improperly changed its existing 60-day deadline to license a relative’s home for foster care to a 90-day deadline, and threw in another potential 60-day extension under certain circumstances. It issued this rule change via internal memo (with no notice to the public, in other words). And yet, even the more lax requirements were not enforced. Out of 49 active cases the audit sampled, just three — 1.5%! — had been licensed within the 90-day limit.

Additionally, Catholic Charities officials informed House Human Services Committee Chair Lisa Marten, they typically could not get initial information required for licensing work from CWS until 28 to 110 days after placement. This is outrageous.

The above infractions might sound like simple failures to complete paperwork or follow bureaucratic rules, but they are far worse than that. They are horrifying betrayals of the trust placed in the state to protect children in crisis.

The lax scrutiny of licensing meant CWS truly had no idea whether these vulnerable children, in need of foster care because they had been harmed or were at great risk of harm, were placed in “safe, healthy and nurturing environments” as required. It’s the stuff of nightmares.

In one of the cases described in the audit, three children were removed from a foster home after allegations of sexual abuse were raised — but only after CWS had allowed the home to operate for nearly 17 months and seven deadline extensions without licensing.

In the random sample of 49 out of 585 foster care cases in which a child was placed with a family member, the auditor found 18 foster homes operated under provisional certificates for more than a year without completing required background checks, training or home studies. In one case, a foster child had been living in an unlicensed home for nearly two years — 720 days.

Catholic Charities is no longer doing the work for CWS, and the agency is now fully responsible for this process, but it is preparing to again put the service up for bid. Ryan Yamane, a former lawmaker, became director of the Department of Human Services, which includes CWS, in May. It’s now Yamane’s duty to protect the children whose safety is CWS’ kuleana.

It’s troubling, however, that 129 of 402 funded positions within CWS are currently unfilled, another indication of an agency in disarray and in need of leadership. A “corrective plan” by CWS sets a goal of hiring 15 clinical employees within a year; Yamane also said he will seek $3 million from the Legislature to boost pay for new staffers, and may use contractors for clerical work to free up clinical staff. All are justified as emergency priorities, but they must be tied to benchmarks in closing CWS’ unconsciona- ble gaps in licensing and home visits.

Other “corrective” goals present- ed to legislators:

>> The licensing contract is being reworked to “address prior shortcomings.” That rewrite must make it crystal clear that licensing is required within 60 days, and there is zero tolerance for leaving children in unlicensed homes.

>> An electronic system is being developed to track licensing work and replace the antiquated paper-based system — “a game-changer,” said CWS administrator Elladine Olevao — but it won’t be operational for at least two years. In the meantime, CWS must put all hands on deck to correct any remaining licensing oversights, and examine and act on all aspects of agency performance that may expose children to dangers.

>> Amending all procedures, policies, rules and statutes to fix licensing issues, while also training staff on changes — this will take up to four years, Olevao said. But vulnerable kids don’t have four years to wait to be protected. Improvements must be made without delay.