In its continuing investigation of Hawaii’s child welfare system, with support from the Fund, Civil Beat reported that state authorities keep thin records of child-abuse deaths – which can ultimately endanger more children. Civil Beat reported on the case of a toddler whose legal guardian was found to have committed medical neglect, triggering a federal requirement that Hawaii’s child welfare system disclose any earlier reports it had received about the caregiver. The state reported that it had investigated the girl’s guardian in 2017, three years before the girl was born. The woman and her husband had biological children of their own, and the state received a report of domestic violence in the household. Its investigation that year confirmed a “threat of abuse and neglect” to the kids. But the state’s summary of that case was perhaps most notable for what it left out: Two decades earlier, the legal guardian failed to seek medical care after she or her partner beat and kicked her infant child, causing internal injuries that later killed the girl. Civil Beat’s reporting on Hawaii’s child welfare system has already led to state legislation to increase oversight.
Hawaii child-welfare officials’ scant record-keeping raises risks in other cases, grantee finds
