[ OUR OPINION ]
Ambitious project links
siblings in foster homesWHILE the number of foster children has grown in recent years, support services have been crucial in the attempt to keep families from leaving the system. Hawaii is blessed with vibrant programs aimed at helping foster parents cope with the system's pressures and complexity. These support programs are deserving of more public support and voluntarism in times of diminishing government resources.
THE ISSUE A 2-year, private-public project arranges outings to bring together siblings who live with different families.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Service's inspector general, Janet Rehnquist, reported earlier this month that outdated services, ineffective recruiting and poor or nonexistent support programs for overextended parents had led to a national shortage of families willing to provide foster care. Moreover, the report found that children coming into the system have more behavioral problems.
One of the obvious behavioral problems is caused by the separation of brothers and sisters into different families. For many, the family assignments mean they will not see each other for months or even years.
It is refreshing, then, to learn of a Hawaii program called Project Visitation, a joint effort of state and private agencies, aimed at bringing together separated foster siblings for regular outings. Family Court Judge R. Mark Browning, social workers and others devised the program two years ago.
The state Department of Human Services provides eight vans for transportation but "has kept the level of bureaucracy to an absolute minimum to allow this to go forward," says Annabel Murray of Na Keiki Law Center of Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii, a participating agency.
Although the children who are placed with foster parents have come from abusive or neglectful homes, they still love their natural families, says Browning. He described the separation as "systemic abuse. The only love and care left in many instances is from siblings."
The project now has 68 volunteers to provide outings for 128 children in 32 sibling groups. That may not seem like very many, since three-fourths of the 2,500 children estimated to be in foster care in Hawaii on any given day are separated siblings, but the fledgling project is an indication of the effort being made in the state to enhance foster care.
The Hawaii Foster Parent Association provides an umbrella for much of the private effort. The national Casey Family Program plays a significant role in Hawaii and other states to help foster children and recruit foster parents.
Among the Rehnquist report's recommendations was that states encourage sharing of information among foster parents through foster-parent associations and other support groups. That effort is being made in Hawaii, but greater public participation is needed.
BACK TO TOP
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4790; mpoole@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
John Flanagan, Contributing Editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.
