LIHU‘E — State Department of Human Services officials say they have been able to meet six federal standards for protecting children from abuse and neglect by using federal funds to pay nonprofit partners who provide services.
But DHS officials worry that a proposal in the state Legislature to disallow use of those federal funds for that purpose could jeopardize children’s safety.
“Hawai‘i has received official word that we are one of the few states that has met or exceeded six very strict federal standards for protecting children from abuse and neglect,” said Toni Schwartz, DHS public information officer.
“A big reason we achieved this progress is because we use federal funds to pay for services provided by our community partners in the nonprofit sector. … However, we are very concerned that this progress will be reversed by the House version of the budget.”
If this budget becomes law, it would restrict the DHS from spending more than $70 million in federal funds on its contracts with its community partners, Schwartz said.
“This would devastate our services and lead to widespread layoffs among nonprofit groups,” she said.
“We don’t agree with that,” said state Rep. Jimmy Tokioka, D-Wailua-Lihu‘e-Koloa, adding that the House version of the budget not only would continue allowance of use of federal funds by DHS, but also restore DHS positions on all the islands slated to be eliminated under the DHS reorganization plan.
The restoration of offices and services would be “for people who need them the most,” including those with children.
“We want top continue to help services” that help the people of Kaua‘i,” he said.
The Senate budget, by contrast, allows DHS to spend these funds, including the draw down of all $49 million in federal-stimulus monies, the DHS release states.
“The House budget would force DHS to cut our child-welfare contracts by a staggering 52 percent,” DHS Director Lillian Koller said.
“That would severely undermine the progress we have made in reducing child abuse and neglect, while causing widespread layoffs in the nonprofit sector. Restricting our ability to spend federal dollars simply does not make sense.
“We need to invest that $70 million in programs that help Hawai‘i’s most vulnerable children and adults, and help revitalize our economy during the worst fiscal crisis in state history,” said Koller.
Nonprofit groups rallied Monday morning at the state Capitol to urge lawmakers to restore funding. A briefing on the House budget and how it would impact DHS was scheduled Monday afternoon, Schwartz said.
By aggressively overhauling Hawai‘i’s child-welfare system since 2003, DHS and its community partners have now met or exceeded all six federal standards required by the nationwide Child and Family Services Review, according to a DHS press release.
“Because the standards are set very high, only a small fraction of states meet all the federal requirements,” Koller said. “The fact that Hawai‘i attained this lofty goal is a tribute to the hard work of our DHS staff and community-based social service partners.”
In a letter to Koller, acting Associate Commissioner Joseph J. Bock of the U.S. Administration for Children and Families praised DHS for its commitment to “systems change.”
“Meeting all of the national standards is a significant achievement,” he says in the letter. “We are extremely pleased with your progress, which is clearly leading to better outcomes for the children and families you are serving.”
When federal officials conducted their first onsite review of Hawai‘i’s child-welfare system in July 2003, the state met only two of the six national standards.
Those results prompted Koller to begin investing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families funds in a wide range of preventative social services provided by community-based organizations statewide, states the release.
This was the first time DHS had spent those federal funds for such services, which work to fight poverty, prevent child abuse and neglect, strengthen families and help at-risk youth succeed in school and avoid crime, substance abuse and unwanted pregnancies.
When federal officials returned to Hawai‘i for their second onsite review in June 2009, they found “significant changes in practice,” Bock says, which enabled DHS to meet four of the national standards.
A subsequent data analysis determined Hawai‘i met all six standards.
These standards pertain to child re-abuse by family members, maltreatment in foster care, reunifying foster children with their families, stability of foster care, achieving permanent placements for children in long-term foster care, and timeliness of adoptions.
The extensive reforms brought about by DHS and its community partners safely reduced the number of children in foster care from 3,000 in 2005 to less than 1,400 today, eliminated the disproportionate representation of Native Hawaiian children in foster care, achieved one of the lowest rates of child re-abuse in the nation, and gained America’s number-one ranking in terms of timely adoptions for foster children, the release states.
“While we are proud of this progress, we are also very concerned that the budget approved by the Hawai‘i House of Representatives would destroy many of our gains,” Koller said.
