RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
The nonprofit Children's Alliance of Hawaii has prepared 100 bags of useful and comforting items for children who are victims of sexual abuse. They include blankets, pillows, clothing, slippers and school supplies.
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Care packages await abused children
When sexually abused children finally come forward, or when their secrets surface through a friend or at school, they spend their first nights away from home in emergency shelters.
How to Help
The Children's Alliance of Hawaii is looking for donations to reach more needy children in the state. Items may include new towels, cotton blankets, school supplies, backpacks, boys' and girls' clothing and toiletries. For more information, please call Kim Bartenstein at 599-2955, ext. 216.
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The clothes they wore will be their only belongings as they move to different foster homes and wait for a safe return home, where most of the assault cases happen.
Now, a new program by the Children's Alliance of Hawaii, a nonprofit on Oahu, will provide 100 duffel bags with $20,000 worth of new blankets, pillows, clothing, slippers, toiletries, school supplies and other items to victims between 4 and 18 years old.
"We wanted to do something that would really honor their bravery," said group president Alfred Herrera, whose downtown office walls are lined with 97 black, rolling bags; three have already been distributed.
The bags are given to children before they enter the foster care system, which takes in about 130 victims of sexual abuse each year, according to the state Department of Human Services. While the department eventually helps clothe and feed children placed in foster care, the state Judiciary is cash-strapped to provide immediate goods for children taken into custody, said Jasmine Mau-Mukai, director of the Children's Justice Centers of Hawaii.
"We've had kids talk about how they wanted their blankets, their pillow from home," she said. "I would be unable to buy them (clothes) out of my Judiciary funds."
RICHARD WALKER / RWALKER@STARBULLETIN.COM
The nonprofit Children's Alliance of Hawaii has prepared 100 bags with things for children who are victims of sexual abuse. Cari Tasoe, back, and Cara Mukai, 13, front left, Erin Yamashita, 12, Rachel Roberts, 13, and Stephanie Wong, 13, help get the bags ready.
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Through its Foster Care Package program, the Children's Alliance, which runs therapeutic services, back-to-school and Christmas projects for children in need, is replacing a previous effort that gave used clothes to abuse victims. The alliance, which serves about 600 kids and teens annually, also is celebrating its 20th anniversary by expanding a youth program to Kauai that offers tutoring, hula lessons and other activities.
Research has shown that supporting children soon after they are abused -- especially with new items they can call their own -- significantly increases their chances of overcoming the traumatic experience and making the transition back into society, said Jan Yu, the organization's program director.
"This symbolizes there are people who care about you," she said.
Foster children can be relocated as many as 20 times in one year, and Yu said the bags will allow children to keep clothes that often get lost during moves.
Cari Tasoe, an Iolani School graduate visiting from California, joined some 10 volunteers this summer shopping with money from fundraising, private donors and a government grant. Each bag has three new sets of clothes, including brand items like Gap and Foot Locker.
"It showed me that the greatest misconception is that the kids who are abused come from low socioeconomic status," she said.