Rape and Death: HB2340 pays $2.5M to Coverup Foster Care Disasters
by Andrew Walden
Buried on line eight of HB2340, this session’s omnibus lawsuit settlements bill, two items totaling $2,550,000 will cover negotiated payments designed to keep the truth about Hawaii’s corrupt and deadly Child Welfare Services out of open court. All the public will know are the allegations and the payment amounts.
CWS has a long history of large lawsuit payouts designed to keep its secrets. CWS has even structured an insurance policy to bind foster parents to CWS in defending any lawsuit, thus reducing any chance they will spill the beans.
How to weigh the allegations? The larger the payment, the more damning the evidence. ‘Nuisance money’ to make annoying plaintiffs with no real case go away is usually about $25,000. These payments total 102 times greater.
Akamai readers may remember that Jolyn Kipapa was killed July 5, 2014 when one of the abused foster kids kept in her Waimanalo foster care ‘warehousing operation’ allegedly ‘snapped.’
HB2340 proposes $1.8M to settle 1CCV-20-0000641, “C.K., J.M., and T.M. v. Department of Human Services.” The initials belong to three foster children allegedly abused sexually at that Waimanalo foster home.
Here are the key allegations which will not be adjudicated in open court because of the State payoff:
9. Between the years 1996 and 2014, Plaintiffs were minor foster children, under the protection and supervision of Defendant State of Hawaii, and involuntarily placed in the home of foster parent Defendant George Kipapa and Jolyn Kipapa in Waimanalo. During that time, Defendant State of Hawaii also transferred from another foster home a known sexual abuser, Michael Silva (also known as Michael Rowan) into the Kipapa household as an additional foster child.
10. While Plaintiffs C.K., J.M., and T.M. were in foster care with Defendant George Kipapa and Jolyn Kipapa, Plaintiffs were subjected to severe and continuous sexual and physical abuse by Silva and others with the specific knowledge and encouragement of Defendant George Kipapa. The sexual abuse included rape, sodomy, forced oral copulation and fondling. At the direction and/or with the acquiescence of Defendant George Kipapa, physical beatings, starvation, theft and destruction of personal property, and failure to provide medical care, clothing, and medicine often accompanied the sexual abuse. Plaintiffs were often kept home from school by Defendant George Kipapa to hide evidence of the abuse.
11. Plaintiff C.K. specifically reported the physical and sexual abuse to Wendall Omura, an employee of Defendant State of Hawaii and one of the social workers assigned to Plaintiffs as a consequence of the protective proceedings initiated by Defendant State of Hawaii.
12. In response to these reports, Mr. Omura accused Plaintiff C.K. of lying. However, Plaintiffs learned that Mr. Omura had developed a social relationship with Defendant George Kipapa and Jolyn Kipapa. As a result of this relationship, Omura was funneling additional foster children to the Kipapas in order to increase the Kipapas’ monthly stipend as foster parents, and Omura was protecting the Kipapas from any allegations of abuse. Omura was also aware of the complaints of physical and sexual abuse reported by Plaintiffs J.M. and T.M. to the court-appointed psychologist but took no action to investigate the reports or remove Plaintiffs from the Kipapa household.
13. Years later, Plaintiff C.K. requested a new social worker. She told the new social worker about the abuse and she was then removed from the Kipapa household.
In a second case, 3CCV- 19-1-008K, Sherri-Ann Garett v. State of Hawaii, Department of Human Services, HB2340 proposes $750K to settle litigation over the July 17, 2017, death of three-year-old Fabian Garcia in a Kamuela foster home run by Chastity Alcosiba-McKenzie.
Here are the key allegations which will not be adjudicated in open court because of the State payoff:
On Page 4 of the Complaint, Plaintiffs aver as follows: “in the months, weeks and days leading up to Fabian’s death, employees of both Defendant [DHS] and Defendant CATHOLIC CHARITIES observed open and obvious injuries on Fabian and were notified of suspected child abuse occurring in the McKenzie Residence on nearly a dozen separate occasions.” The Log seeks to withhold several documents that refer to reports of alleged child abuse or neglect….
The Complaint also alleges: “Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE maintained a documented history of legal, psychological, and personal problems that should have disqualified her from becoming licensed as a resource caregiver” and “a documented history of problems with other children assigned to her care and custody (by Defendant [DHS]) prior to being assigned Fabian and his siblings.” The Complaint also alleges: “Defendant MCKENZIE also maintained a documented history of legal, psychological and personal problems that should have disqualified him from becoming licensed as a Resource Care Giver (RCG).”
Plaintiff also requested DHS admit the truth of specific allegations, which the State will never have to answer in open court, including:
c) Request for Admission No. 5: “Admit that West Hawaii CWS social workers and/or employees were attending the same Twelve Step (“12 Step”) meetings that parents with children in the CWS system were required to attend as part of a reunification plan or other court-ordered attendance at such meetings.” …
f) Request for Admission No. 10: “Admit that the State maintained knowledge prior to the placement of the Garett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE that Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE suffered from Adjustment Disorder, Anxiety and Depression.”
g) Request for Admission No. 11: “Admit that the State had knowledge prior to the placement of the Garett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE that Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE had been a victim of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse and verbal abuse.”
h) Request for Admission No. 12: “Admit that the State maintained knowledge prior to the placement of the Garrett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE that Defendant ALCOSIBA-MCKENZIE had been involved with her own CWS case involving one or more of her own biological children.”
i) Request for Admission No. 13: “Admit that the State maintained knowledge prior to the placement of the Garett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant MCKENZIE that Defendant MCKENZIE had a history of substance abuse.”
j) Request for Admission No. 14: “Admit the State maintained knowledge prior to the placement of the Garett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant MCKENZIE that Defendant MCKENZIE had a history of domestic violence.”
k) Request for Admission No. 15: “Admit the State maintained knowledge prior the placement of the Garett-Garcia children in the household of Defendant MCKENZIE that Defendant MCKENZIE had suffered a history of childhood abuse inflicted upon him by his father in which Defendant MCKENZIE would be hit by his father until he bled.”…
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SA: State to pay $750,000 in foster abuse case “Foster said that the parents also have settled for an undisclosed amount with Catholic Charities, which has a contract with the state to provide certain services for Child Welfare Services. However, the details of the settlement are not public, and neither he nor his clients could comment on it.”
HNN: State agrees to large settlement in case of children abused by foster sibling
HTH: State to pay more than $1.5M in two Big Island cases
BACKGROUND: