Reforming Hawaii Professional Licensing Laws
Child Welfare: "an assembly line of injustice, in which everyone pretends to be holding hearings, but they’re just going through the motions."
CB: ... "an assembly line of injustice, in which everyone pretends to be holding hearings, but they’re just going through the motions."…
… In October, a former worker for Hawaii’s Child Welfare Services sat for a deposition in a lawsuit arising from the state’s role in removing a fifth grade girl from her classroom on the Big Island to be flown across the state to live with a biological father she barely knew. After three weeks of agony for the girl’s mother, who had legal custody but didn’t even know about the “grab and go” operation until afterwards, the whole escapade unravelled and the girl went home.
“Are you familiar with the Fourth Amendment?” attorney Eric Seitz asked the CWS assessment worker, referring to the constitutional prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures.
“I couldn’t tell you what it is,” the worker replied.…
the Legislature should approve a bill along the lines of Arizona's requiring CWS to seek court orders unless there is an immediate danger to the child…
The Legislature should also rescind an absurd provision of Hawaii law that defines “imminent harm” as the possibility of a child being injured in the next 90 days. In other places, imminent harm is defined as something likely to happen within hours, not days, weeks or months.
State Sen. Joy San Buenaventura has said she plans to introduce such legislation in the coming session. It should be passed and signed by the governor….
The entire child welfare system needs to open up. As it is, confidentiality laws and rules -- or at least officials' interpretation of them -- prevent the public from knowing almost anything about child welfare cases. It's true that the privacy of children who have been abused or neglected should be protected. But that concern should not cast a veil of secrecy over every aspect of the system….
read … 'Grab And Go' Must Go: Hawaii Should Honor Parents' Rights In Child Welfare Cases
COVID spurs rise in suicide risk factors
SA: … Mililani’s schools, like many schools across the U.S., are working to stem an alarming nationwide rise in mental health difficulties among students since at least 2009, made worse by the tension and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The seven-campus Mililani school complex is one of the first in Hawaii to offer suicide prevention education complexwide not only as required to educators, but also to both parents and older students, following a 2019 legislative initiative to address factors that could lead to suicide among Hawaii’s youth….
In Hawaii there were 46 suicides between 2017 and 2021 among Hawaii residents 10 to 19 years old, according to state Department of Health data. That far surpassed traffic crashes (24 deaths), cancer (23) and unintentional drug poisonings (12) for that period.
One person of any age dies by suicide in Hawaii every 2 days, and for every person who dies by suicide, 30 others make an attempt, according to a 2018 legislative report by the Prevent Suicide Hawai‘i Statewide Taskforce….
SA Editorial: Help to get youth out of dark places
read … Mililani schools act to stem rise in suicide risk factors
Problems frustrate people relying on Oahu’s TheHandi-Van
SA: … Two weeks ago Braiman, who is blind, waited with three others outside Guide Dogs of Hawaii on King Street for TheHandi-Van vehicles to pick them up.
One was scheduled to arrive at 3 p.m., another a half-hour later. Both times came and went; the vans didn’t. The paratransit service didn’t call. Braiman and her three fellow riders waited.
“I have no sight whatsoever. Everything is black,” Braiman said. “To stand outside on King Street, you don’t know who’s walking by. And I have to wait outside on the street for the van.”
“We’re sitting out there like sitting ducks to get mugged, raped and robbed because they don’t have a van,” she said. “And they don’t even tell us?”
More than an hour later, the vans turned up….
In the past few weeks, she has been dropped at the wrong Christian institution — Sacred Heart Church, not Sacred Hearts Academy — had a ride canceled, and was dropped off at Magic Island and told to wait by a bench that wasn’t the usual spot.
“I said, ‘Look, I’m blind. I don’t know where I’m going,’” Braiman recalled telling the driver. “She said, ‘I’m sorry. I have to go.’ And she left me.”
“They’re not answering the call. They’re not showing up. They’re not telling people they’re going to be late. They’re booking vans that aren’t available,” she said….
In light of these recent hang-ups, the city’s Department of Transportation Services asked TheHandi-Van riders to fill out a survey. “The feedback provided by riders will help DTS continue to improve the quality of TheHandi-Van service,” the DTS said in a news release.
(The survey can be accessed online at eva.thebus.org. Feedback also can be given at 808-768-8300. Riders also can request a survey in English, Chuukese, Ilokano, Japanese, Chinese or Tagalog be mailed to them, and they can be submitted to handivan@honolulu.gov, faxed to 808-768-1986 or mailed to Paratransit Service and Operations Branch, Department of Transportation Services, City and County of Honolulu, Pacific Park Plaza, 711 Kapiolani Blvd., Suite 1600, Honolulu, HI 96813.)…
SA Editorial: Subpar Handi-Van must be improved
Related: Uber Caldwell: Level the Playing Field for Everybody Except HandiVan
read … Problems frustrate people relying on Oahu’s TheHandi-Van
Hawai‘i Convention Center Grubbing for Money (again)
SA: .. “You see the Aloha Stadium. Why would you want to continue that same strategy with another one of your large assets?”….
read … Officials study repairs for Hawai‘i Convention Center
Maui Has A New Plan To Map Significant Cultural Sites
CB: … Maui County is now on its way to becoming the first in the state to create an interactive map, or “cultural overlay” in the county’s jargon, to allow anyone to search the historical and cultural legacy of a property….
read … Maui Has A New Plan To Prevent Desecration Of Significant Cultural Sites
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