Isabella Kalua’s Death Has Yet To Trigger A Clear Plan To Bolster Child Protection 0 The end of this year’s legislative session is just days away, and lawmakers say they still haven’t seen a clear plan for improving Hawaii’s child welfare system.
It has been seven months since 6-year-old Isabella Kalua was reported missing from her Waimanalo home, and five months after her adoptive parents were indicted for her murder, and state lawmakers say they still haven’t seen a clear plan or even a stopgap proposal for repairing Hawaii’s struggling child welfare system.
Isabella’s disappearance triggered a community uproar, but the state Department of Human Services did not request a significant budget increase for the Child Welfare Services Division this year, nor did it announce plans to seek changes to state laws, rules or policies to help the agency do its job more effectively.
The department has never explained to the public or the Legislature what went wrong in the Kalua case — DHS says it cannot discuss the matter, citing confidentiality requirements — and that muted response has left Hawaii lawmakers to cobble together their own proposals this year to try to improve the system.
