KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
In March, Joe and Angela Valdez showed a Christmas 2000 photo of their two sons. The couple, engaged in a child custody fight with the state for years, may be having their parental rights restored.
In a rare reversal, the state may
ask the court to return 2 foster
children to their parents
A Waianae couple who lost a lengthy legal battle with the state Child Protective Services over the custody of their children may see their parental rights restored.
The state Department of Human Services is reconsidering the case of Joe and Angela Valdez, whose parental rights to their now 6- and 8-year-old sons were terminated in November 2001. The department informed the couple that it will petition the Family Court to set aside the termination order if they can pass a safety inspection of their home and agree to undergo therapy with their children.
The reversal is rare for a child welfare agency, experts say, and one advocate for the Valdez family is hopeful that the move signals a department policy shift that could lead to the return of other children now in the foster-care system.
Angela Valdez said she is relieved that the department is finally doing the right thing. Valdez, who has not seen her sons for nearly three years, said she and her husband have battled the Child Protective Services (CPS) system since 1999.
"It's been horrible. Imagine losing everything you own," she said. "I have no idea how big my boys are and what they think of us."
Human Services officials declined to discuss the case due to state confidentiality laws.
But Lillian Koller, the department's director, told the Valdez family's representatives -- state Rep. Michael Kahikina (D, Nanakuli) and the Rev. Harry Simons of Waianae -- that she is convinced the couple has made a complete turnaround in their lives. Koller also said she was impressed by the support that the couple receives from their church and community.
The department's reversal comes as the administration of Gov. Linda Lingle has promised changes to Hawaii's child welfare system in the wake of a critical report last month by the federal government. The report, conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that the state CPS system is undermined by high worker caseloads and limited resources.
It also comes as state lawmakers have asked state Auditor Marion Higa to audit the CPS system, which oversees nearly 5,000 children in foster care.
The Valdez case, detailed in an April 28 Star-Bulletin article, has raised concerns about conflicts of interests and fairness in the Family Court system after Human Services officials awarded foster custody of the two boys to their court-appointed advocate, or guardian ad litem.
In September 1999, CPS intake workers received an anonymous tip that Joe Valdez had physically abused an older stepson. The children were later placed in temporary foster care after a follow-up CPS investigation said the children were living in unsafe conditions and that the parents had a history of domestic violence.
The state was set to return the two Valdez boys to their parents in June 2001 after the couple took part in anger management classes and drug counseling. But the state reversed itself after the boys' guardian ad litem, local attorney Thomas Haia, advocated that the parents' custody rights be terminated. Haia later resigned as guardian ad litem and became the boys' foster parent.
Child protection advocates say it is rare to restore parental rights and that it is even more rare for a child welfare agency to push for that restoration.
Human Services officials said they are aware of only two or three local instances during the past several years where the department has filed such a petition.
Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, based in Alexandria, Va., said child welfare agencies have a natural tendency to "dig in their heels," sometimes at the expense of children and their families.
"The fact that the head of the new agency is not doing this is an encouraging sign," Wexler said. "My hope is that this will be the first of many cases where the state gives a second look."
Kahikina, who is chairman of the House Human Services and Housing Committee, said he believes the Valdez family will be among the first of many families to be reconciled in such a way.
Kahikina, who co-authored the resolution to audit the CPS system, credited Koller for recognizing that families that have been in trouble in the past can change their lives for the better.
Previous Department of Human Services directors have been reluctant to intervene on behalf of Kahikina's constituents who have had legitimate complaints against the CPS system, he said.
"These people are going to be the first of many, and why not?" Kahikina said.
Some Human Services staffers have raised concerns that the Valdez case would open the floodgates. But Koller said she is not worried about that if it means that the department will be reconciling families that have truly turned their lives around.
"I don't think you run a risk when you do the right thing on a case-by-case basis," Koller said. "What matters to me is doing the right thing."
