Cuts could imperil kids

State officials worry that if lawmakers hold back funding, abuse could increase

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Hawaii has seen child abuses cases drop in recent years, but state officials are concerned that the numbers could flare up if the Legislature withholds key funding.

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Confirmed child maltreatment cases in Hawaii fell to 2,134 in fiscal year 2006 from 3,642 in fiscal year 2002. And Hawaii had one of the lowest rates of recurring child abuse and neglect in the country in the past fiscal year at 2.2 percent.

State Human Services Director Lillian Koller said legislators want to set aside $40 million out of a federal block grant for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The funds would be held in reserve in case the adult welfare caseload rises, she said.

Koller fears that would threaten money now being used for child welfare services such as family strengthening, youth development programs and job training.

She said she does not anticipate an increase in welfare cases with Molokai Ranch, Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines closing because ranch workers will not lose salaries for 60 days, and airline employees have 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.

"These people have other options, and they don't even qualify for half a year for the welfare rolls," she said.

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Hawaii's declining child abuse and neglect rate could start climbing if proposed legislative funding cuts are approved for family and work support services, state human services officials fear.

"We made a tremendous investment that has paid off for us so well in child welfare services," state Human Services Director Lillian Koller said in an interview. "It is disconcerting to see that threatened at this time."

Hawaii had one of the lowest rate of recurring child abuse and neglect in the country in the past fiscal year at 2.2 percent, said DHS Program Administrator John Walters. The national rate is 6.1 percent.

Confirmed child maltreatment cases fell to 2,134 in 2006 from 3,642 in fiscal year 2002.

It is particularly important to maintain preventive and family support services as stresses increase from unemployment, economic hardship, war-deployed family members and other problems, Koller said.

However, she said, the DHS and the Legislature's finance committees have a "philosophical difference" about use of a federal block grant for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program.

The department has been using $17 million for child welfare services, such as family strengthening, positive youth development programs, job training and work supports, she said.

Legislators want to put aside $40 million out of the grant in case the welfare caseload goes up, Koller said. Different cuts proposed in House and Senate budget versions would affect child welfare services, she said.

The welfare caseload -- now costing $28 million annually -- has dropped significantly because of a federal five-year limit on benefits and work requirements, Koller said.

She said she does not anticipate an increase in welfare cases with Molokai Ranch, Aloha Airlines and ATA Airlines closing because ranch workers will not lose salaries for 60 days, and airline employees have 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.

"These people have other options, and they don't even qualify for half a year for the welfare rolls," she said. "There is plenty of time to respond to that kind of surge," she added, questioning the need to set aside federal money "just in case something might happen."

"It's like riding on a bald tire to save the spare," Walters said.

Koller said cutting money for the work support services would be "counterproductive," affecting welfare people who need job training, a general education diploma, English as a second language and other help to get work.

If the welfare caseload increases and a crisis occurs, she said, federal money can be transferred from prevention to cash assistance. "It's totally flexible."

"The state had received an annual federal grant for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program since 1996, but none of it was used for preventive or support services until 2003, although it was allowed by the federal government.

"When I got here, I realized it was an untapped source of federal money for child welfare services, and I jumped," Koller said.

Walters, with DHS since 1987, said the child welfare budget has been slashed during poor economic conditions in the past. "Every time we start taking away services for families, there are increases in (child abuse) reports, confirmed reports and kids going into (foster) care."

"I know it's a gut-wrencher for the Legislature," he said, referring to the lawmakers' struggle to meet demands with decreasing revenue. "But if it's going to get bad, it's the worst possible time to take away supports from families that will make things better."

A Pew Center on the States "report card" published last month by Governing magazine said, "Since 2003, Director Lillian Koller has transformed an insensitive agency that was removing children from their homes at four times the national average without appreciable safety benefits."

"Continuous quality improvement goals, more stringent than federal requirements, have improved case worker response time and brought re-abuse rates down," the report said.

CORRECTION Thursday, April 10, 2008 The last name of John Walters, program administrator for the state Department of Human Services, was misspelled originally in this story. Also, Hawaii’s child abuse and neglect re-abuse rate is one of the lowest in the nation. It was reported incorrectly as the lowest.