SB1228 SD1

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that the malama ohana working group established by Act 86, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, was tasked with recommending transformative changes to the State's existing child welfare system. For fifteen months, the seventeen working group members, who represented those serving youth, as well as youth and families throughout the State, together with hundreds of community members, opened their hearts and listened deeply to the stories of lived experience in the child welfare system. They worked to develop recommendations to establish a child welfare system that is trauma-informed, sustains a community-based partnership, and responds to the needs of children and families in the system and the community.

The legislature further finds that the result of this work was a powerful vision for transforming how the State supports families and protects children. Among the many recommendations to move towards this vision was to strengthen the family court process for child welfare cases. These would include reducing delays in court proceedings, using specialty courts where applicable, and ensuring access to excellent legal representation for relatives of youth in the system as well as for the youth themselves. Some youth reported feeling they were given no information about their case and their family, and that they were left out of the decision making process. They claimed they were disregarded when they reported that they were unsafe, and did not feel their rights were protected.

Accordingly, the purpose of this Act is to establish a working group to improve family court processes, including access to legal representation for youth in the child welfare system.

SECTION 2. (a) There is established within the judiciary for administrative purposes a working group for legal services for youth in the child welfare system.

(b) The working group shall:

(1) Review and consider pathways for implementation of the recommendations of the malama ohana working group, established pursuant to Act 86, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, as they relate to the court process, including counsel for youth; and

(2) Examine practices in other jurisdictions that provide different forms of legal services for foster youth and conduct site visits to selected jurisdictions in other states to identify possible practices to implement in the State.

(1) One district family court judge of the first circuit and one district family court judge from any other circuit, who shall serve as co-chairs and invite the additional members to partipate in the working group;

(2) A supreme court justice or the justice's designee;

(3) Members of the judiciary who served or currently serve on the child welfare court calendar;

(4) A representative from the family law division of the department of the attorney general;

(5) A representative who serves as a guardian ad litem in child welfare cases to be invited by the co-chairs of the working group;

(6) A representative from the William S. Richardson school of law at the university of Hawaii at Manoa;

(7) Two representatives of the malama ohana working group, who shall be designated by the former co-chairs of the malama ohana working group, to be invited by the co‑chairs of the working group;

(8) A representative from a HI H.O.P.E.S. Youth Leadership Board of the HI H.O.P.E.S. Initiative under EPIC ʻOhana, Inc., to be invited by the co-chairs of the working group;

(9) A member of the Domestic Violence Action Center, to be invited by the co-chairs of the working group;

(10) Three or more experts with lived expertise in navigating the state child welfare system while minors, to be invited by the co-chairs of the working group; and

(11) A parent with lived experience in the state child welfare system, to be invited by the co-chairs of the working group.

(d) The working group shall submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2026. The report shall include plans for a pilot program to test a model for delivering counsel services to youth of a selected age range in a selected jurisdiction within the State.

(e) The working group shall cease to exist on June 30, 2026.

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2025-2026 for the working group established pursuant to this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the judiciary for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on December 31, 2050.

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1228
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII