State braces
for hefty fineThe head of the state's child
welfare system says a federal
audit likely will be critical
but also educational
A federal audit of Hawaii's child welfare system will likely result in a hefty fine, according to the head of the state agency that administers the system.
Lillian Koller, director of the state Department of Human Services, said yesterday she believes that a 36-member audit team with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will likely identify deficiencies in the state's Child Protective Services system when it releases its preliminary findings tomorrow.
Koller said she could not estimate the amount of the penalty, but noted that audits of the child welfare systems of larger states have resulted in fines of tens of millions of dollars.
The federal agency has identified significant deficiencies in all 39 states that it examined so far, and each has been assessed a fine of some form.
"There's bound to be a significant price tag attached," Koller said.
One area of concern has been the frequency of child abuse and neglect under foster care, according to Koller.
DHS figures show that nearly 1 percent of all children under foster care suffered from child abuse or neglect in 2001. That is nearly double the national rate of 0.57 percent.
The state's child welfare system, which receives about 30 percent of its funding from the federal government, oversees the interests of more than 13,000 children each year, including 4,800 children under temporary foster care.
The federal audit is part three-year effort by the federal Department of Health and Human Services to establish a national standard for child welfare systems.
After the federal agency releases the preliminary findings tomorrow, it will issue a follow-up report in September that will specify the amount of the fine for the state.
The federal government then will suspend the fine for two years and work with the state to set up a plan to improve services provided by the state's child welfare system.
If the state makes significant improvements in the areas flagged by the auditors over the two years, the fine can be reduced.
Koller said she expects the state to fare well in some areas, including reunification of foster children with their families and the rate of adoption of children under permanent foster care.
She said that 80 percent of the children under temporary CPS custody are reunited with their families within a year. That compares with a national rate of about 76.2 percent.
Koller added that more than half of the children who are up for adoption in Hawaii are placed in their new homes within two years. By contrast, the national average is about 30 percent, she said.
"This (audit) is an opportunity in many ways ... because we are getting a unique perspective from the feds, who have seen how nearly all the states work," Koller said.