Meeting Notes: September 21, 2004
The Meeting was convened by Sen Chun-Oakland and Rep Denis Arakaki at noon in room 325 at the State Capitol. In attendance were representatives of state departments and private agencies providing services for children and families. Two presentations were given; one on the Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) and Program Improvement Plan (PIP) and the other on The Kids First program in Family Court.
CFSR and PIP presentation was by John Walters and Lillian Koeller, Esq, Director of DSSH. In the past several years the federal government has reviewed child welfare services in all the states. Almost all states were found to be deficient including Hawaii. Federal consultants, the DSSH and the CSF staff have done an intense review of our program and have come up with the Program Improvement Plan (PIP). The handout explaining the PIP ran to 29 pages. On the DSSH website you can find a detailed timeline of action to be taken, 56 pages. This amounts to a big reorganization of how services will be provided. It includes an emphasis on training, data collection and evaluation and quality assurance. On paper it is state of the art. It will be a very big job to implement.
On the website action plan there are regulations for timely medical examination of children at high and severe risk and for comprehensive health, behavioral health, dental health and developmental needs of all children within 45 days of placement in foster care. There is also a plan for expansion of CARE services through pilot projects. Funding for this plan will come from the federal government and they will closely monitor the progress.
The Kids Count presentation was by Charlene Anaya. It is housed in the Family Court and addresses the emotional needs of children in divorcing families. There are about 5000 divorces on Oahu each year. Children are involved in about half of them. The emotional impact on children can be devastating to them. Their needs are often forgotten in the fight over property and so on. Kids Count brings in the children and gives them a chance to share their feelings with eventual feed back to the parents. In many cases the parents realize that they have to do something about their children's feelings. Kids Count helps them do it. They are able to steer the parents to mediation if desired.
The next meeting of the Keiki Caucus will be the Summit to be held at the State Capitol on October 23rd . Attached is an invitation form for registration. We are asked to register individually. They have room for about 150. |
