Lawmakers put Hawaii's foster care system on blast at State Capitol
Lawmakers want to know — has there been any progress to fill vacancies and strengthen protections for kids to stop tragedies from happening in what are supposed to be protective homes?
Child abuse cases in the islands rise between 2023, 2024
Isabella 'Ariel' Kalua and Geanna Bradley are just a few Hawaii children who lost their lives to abusive households.
Some of them were living with their own parents and others were in adoptive, or what were supposed to be, protective environments.
'When we start talking about where there are failures, we can understand where the failures are happening,' said Senator Joy San Buenaventura (D) Health and Human Services Chair.
Lawmakers also followed up on prior audits and hearings about Child Welfare System gaps.Senator Kurt Fevella (R) questioned who does the intake interviews with caregivers or 'foster parents.'
'We are working with Attorney General. We are almost there on something called 'Code of Conduct,' every contract that child welfare does with the vendor,' explained Ryan Yamae, DHS Director.
'Anytime there is a call against a resource caregiver possibly harming a child, we are going to investigate, and pending that investigation, we are going to remove them from the home,' said Daisy Hartsfield, CHS.
Can Hawaiiʻs child welfare system be fixed?
The Attorney General's office told lawmakers the judiciary is trying to add more protections and eliminate barriers to home entry when abuse is suspected.
'They have already taken steps to change that guardianship order to modify that relationship that they're creating to add additional protections of additional reports and additional oversight by the court,' said Lynne Youmans, Deputy Attorney General.
DHS has hundreds of vacancies in its Child Welfare, Protective Services and Assistant ranks, but they are trying to add a pay differential for new hires and performance pay for current staff.
Check out more news from around Hawaii
As for the families they rely on to help kids, Yamane said pre-adoptive services and counseling would be mandated rather than voluntary.
Yamane said it would be the direct response to current cases but those that are also in internal review.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
2 hours ago
- Fox News
DHS official calls out NJ gov over sanctuary city policies: 'He must answer for this'
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin sounds off over sanctuary city policies and reacts to the Los Angeles mayor lauding a ruling restricting ICE.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Leaked memo from Hegseth's brother calls for US army to help with deportations nationwide ‘for years to come': report
A leaked memo from the Department of Homeland Security suggests that the Trump administration is considering using the U.S. military to boost its ongoing mass deportation agenda, while acknowledging the deployment of troops in Los Angeles earlier this year wasn't 'perfect,' according to a new report. The memo was allegedly written by DHS senior adviser Phil Hegseth, the brother of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The New Republic published the texts on Saturday. President Donald Trump has already used U.S. military personnel in his aggressive deportation campaign. In June, Trump nationalized approximately 5,000 National Guard members and sent them to LA to push back against protesters demonstrating against Immigrations and Customs Enforcement raids in their neighborhoods. In addition to the National Guard members, Trump also sent 700 U.S. Marines to the city to stomp out the "violent insurrectionist mob." Most of the military members sent to LA have since been pulled out of the city. The DHS memo outlines a June 21 meeting between senior DHS and Pentagon officials, according to The New Republic, and suggests that U.S. military members will be needed to carry out Trump's deportation efforts for "years to come." Top level officials from both agencies, including Hegseth and acting ICE commissioner Todd Lyons, were listed as participants, the outlet reported. The memo advises departments on how they can "better plan for national security and illegal immigration" via three action items, including utilizing the Pentagon's "nationwide operational planning capabilities." "The U.S. military leadership (the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and NORTHCOM) need to feel — for the first time — the urgency of the homeland defense mission. They need to understand the threat, what's at stake, and the political importance the administration has placed on this issue," the memo reads. Later in the memo, it acknowledges that the troop deployment to LA didn't go the way the Trump administration had hoped. It does suggest that they are expecting similar operations to be carried out in the future, however. 'Everyone here is also aware of our joint work in L.A.,' it states. 'It hasn't been perfect, and we're still working through best practices together, but I think it's a good indicator of the type of operations (and resistance) we're going to be working through for years to come.' The Independent has requested comment from the Department of Homeland Security.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Trump Is Hiring ICE Agents to Arrest Immigrants Coast to Coast, Border to Border
Donald Trump is looking to hire 10,000 officers to help carry out his administration's widespread detention and deportation of migrants with tens of billions of dollars in funds from his 'Big Beautiful Bill.' Job postings show that in 25 cities from coast to coast, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is hiring deportation officers who will arrest, detain, and deport migrants, and manage migrants' cases. The listings give insight into where ICE may be ramping up operations. ICE has already been carrying out broad arrests, including at workplaces and courthouses. Agents have been wearing masks and lacking identifying information as they snatch immigrants, sometimes breaking their car windows to drag them out faster. 'Are you ready to defend the homeland?' the job posting reads. 'Launch a dynamic and rewarding career as a Deportation Officer with Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO) at ICE! Join a dedicated team safeguarding U.S. borders and upholding immigration laws, playing a key role in defending our nation.' At a time when the U.S. job market is slowing down and prices remain high, ICE is offering $50,000 signing bonuses and $60,000 in student loan repayment with a salary of about $50,000 to $90,000. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already issued 1,000 tentative job offers, the Associated Press reported Friday. A spokesperson for DHS said many of the people offered jobs were 'ICE officers who retired under President Biden because they were frustrated that they were not allowed to do their jobs.' These retired officers are being offered $88,000 to $144,000 along with a $50,000 bonus. An image of Uncle Sam, the ultimate recruitment propaganda, appears on the DHS website with the words 'RETURN TO MISSION.' 'Your country is calling you to serve at ICE. In the wake of the Biden administration's failed immigration policies, your country needs dedicated men and women of ICE to get the worst of the worst criminals out of our country,' Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said earlier this week. 'This is a defining moment in our nation's history. Your skills, your experience, and your courage have never been more essential. Together, we must defend the homeland.' ICE is hiring in Los Angeles, where Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to lead a militarized crackdown on protests against his immigration raids. Major cities where ICE is hiring include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The agency is hiring in several large cities with large Latino populations including Dallas, Houston, Miami Beach, Phoenix, San Antonio, and San Diego. ICE is also hiring in Baltimore, New Orleans, Newark, Saint Paul, and Salt Lake City. The agency is hiring in El Paso, a city on the Texas.-Mexico border where detentions are reportedly increasing. They are also looking to hire in Detroit and Buffalo, which are on the U.S.-Canada border. ICE is looking to hire in Harlingen, a Texas border city. The deportation flights taking migrants to an El Salvador torture prison and war-torn South Sudan, both in defiance of judicial orders in cases that went to the Supreme Court, took off from Harlingen. DHS is hiring new criminal investigators, or special agents, at salaries of $63,000 to $102,000 with a bonus $50,000. Returning criminal investigators are being offered $105,000 to $171,000 per year, plus the $50,000 bonus. The department is hiring attorneys all over, at field locations in 90 cities. The jobs are being funded with tens of billions of dollars included in Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill,' the president's first major agenda legislation. The bill also slashes taxes for the wealthy and will force millions of Americans off Medicaid, the government health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. 'The funding from President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill will play a key role in fulfilling his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement, Politico reported. 'Getting 10,000 [new employees] means basically hiring the people who walk in the door because you're trying to hit your quota,' Josiah Heyman, an anthropology professor who directs the University of Texas at El Paso's Center of Inter-American and Border Studies, told The Los Angeles Times. 'Rapid, mass-hiring lends itself to mistakes and cutting corners.' The Trump administration is also looking at increasing their use of the military in domestic immigration enforcement, The New Republic reported Saturday. A memo from Philip Hegseth, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's younger brother, calls on military leadership to 'feel — for the first time — the urgency of the homeland defense mission' and work together with ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents. 'The memo is alarming, because it speaks to the intent to use the military within the United States at a level not seen since Japanese internment,' Carrie Lee, senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, told The New Republic. 'The military is the most powerful, coercive tool our country has. We don't want the military doing law enforcement. It absolutely undermines the rule of law.' More from Rolling Stone Trump's Admin Is Investigating Jack Smith, Who Prosecuted Him Over Jan. 6 'Grow Up': Conservative Senators, Economists Slam Trump for Firing Labor Stats Chief You May Be Asking Yourself How Did Dan Bongino Get Here Best of Rolling Stone The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential Campaign Anatomy of a Fake News Scandal The Radical Crusade of Mike Pence
