WHEREAS, Malama O Kamali`i Makamae (Protect and Honor Our Precious Children), a nonprofit organization was organized for the purpose of helping children from low-income households, including but not limited to native Hawaiian children by developing and operating state of the art care facilities throughout the State of Hawai`i for children in imminent danger of their physical, emotional, mental, social, and educational well-being, the missing link in behalf of preserving our Na Kamali`i O Hawaii Nei; and

WHEREAS, the State's Foster Care system, Human and Social Services, Child Protective and Welfare agencies are still suffering from a case-overload syndrome; and

WHEREAS, we still experience tragic scenarios despoiling our Kamali`i, and we must now add other innocent children to our statistics of having been lost in the State's protective, welfare, education, community and faith-based systems, as a total societal failure to Alexis of Puna, Hawaii and Talia Williams of Oahu; and

WHEREAS, such traumas to survivors are categorical indicators to physical, emotional and mental scarring, which adversely affect their growth & development, behavioral and learning abilities; and

WHEREAS, Malama O Kamali`i Makamae's care facilities will provide a wellness refuge for them to begin to feel safe, promote health and nutrition and being an overall healing journey in their short and/or long-term care needs in the Hawaiian cultural hanai `ohana style; and

WHEREAS, due to the shortage of state qualified case workers, too many children are neglected and all through the cracks of the Child Protective & Welfare Systems, and still there are insufficient emergency care facilities to meet the growing need of very young children in imminent danger in their present living environment; and

WHEREAS, Hawai`i's children of Hawaiian ancestry are at high risk of falling into the behavioral, lifestyle, and substance abuse patterns of their adult family members or other care givers, and are also at imminent risk for their health, safety, well being, and economic status in their present environment, which would affect their ability to grow, develop, and learn; and

WHEREAS, the Kamehameha Schools' Ka Huaka`i Native Hawaiian Educational Assessment (2005) stated that academic disparities are pronounced in rural regions with high concentrations of Native Hawaiians, and with a more rapid escalating rate of special education referrals than that of their peers (18.5% or 1 of every 5 Native Hawaiian students); and

WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian youth have a higher rate of depression (34.5%) and are more likely to attempt suicide (22.6%) than their peers; and

WHEREAS, a study conducted by the national Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) found that "the child welfare agencies devoted most of their resources to investigation, foster care and permanent custody decisions while provisions of services to prevent the recurrence of child abuse/neglect was a lower budget priority"; and

WHEREAS, the CASA study "found six critical weaknesses that gobble child welfare officials' efforts to protect the child" and also "noted that the child's development needs should take precedence over the timing of parental recovery; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, that this body urges support of Malama O Kamali`i Makamae in its efforts to develop and operate state of the art care facilities for endangered young children from low-income households, including Native Hawaiian children at high risk, which was a need recognized by the Joint House-Senate Task Force on Ice and Drug Abatement in 2004 to develop a drug endangered child protection program; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature recognize that significant benefits would be achieved by requesting the Child Care and Welfare Service agencies of the department of human services to partner with Malama O Kamali`i Makamae, as a pilot project and model, to assist these agencies with the overload of emergency care and other social and educational services to aforesaid children ages zero to thirteen years; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature recommends the child care and welfare service agencies of the departments of Human Services and Health to add Malama O Kamali`i Makamae to their lists of authorized "Diversions Services", "Community-Based Care Service" providers, and partnering with Malama O Kamali`i Makamae for cost effective savings to the State's expenses, as indicated in the Department of Human Services' Financial Expenditure Report FY 2002-03; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature supports Malama O Kamali`i Makamae's provision of needed services to Hawai`i's young children through the House and Senate 2006 Grants-in-Aid (GIA) program awards and State Funds relating to substance abuse and child endangerment/abuse prevention programs; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the directors of the Departments of Human Services and Health, the Deputy Director of the Department of Human Services, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the State, and the President of Malama O Kamali`i Makamae.

Report Title:

Malama O Kamali`i Makamae; Care facilities