ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

Sarah Coultas had not seen much of her teenage daughter after the state removed her from her care in March, 2022. It was not for lack of trying. Coultas had sent numerous messages and made endless calls to various Child Welfare Services officials on the Big Island to make her case for reunification or at least more frequent visits.

Still, at least she knew where the girl was — with a couple who had agreed to foster them. Or so she thought.

One day in December, at the Kona courthouse, her attorney happened to run into the woman that Coultas believed was the foster mom. The woman told the lawyer she didn’t have the teenager anymore. There had been a family emergency, and she and her husband could no longer take care of her.

So where had Coultas’ daughter been for the last two-and-a-half months?

It was the weekend, so Coultas could not call CWS. Instead, she contacted her daughter’s guardian ad litem, the court-appointed representative of the girl’s legal interests.

“I’m sorry you were not informed,” the GAL wrote back, “but the Department moved her into the home of her friend … in Mountain View.”

Who was this friend?

It turned out to be a 30-year-old single man. Coultas’ daughter was 15 at the time.

I wish I could stop writing about the shortcomings of CWS and move onto other subjects. Lord knows there are plenty of broken things to write about in Hawaii.

The problem is, stories like this keep landing in my inbox.

So where to start?

‘Why Are They Keeping This Secret’

First off, I want to make it clear that I have seen nothing to indicate that there was anything improper about this 30-year-old man’s conduct. He told the state that he just wanted to provide a safe place for the girl, whom he knew through a friendship with her adult sisters. He went through all the background checks and interviews.

The question is whether CWS, as a matter of policy, allows placements of teenagers in the homes of single adults of the opposite gender, or even the same gender for that matter. CWS would not answer my questions, of course. But Daisy Hartsfield, whose Department of Human Services division includes CWS, told an advocate for Coultas that CWS was revisiting its policy because of this incident.

More importantly, CWS clearly violated its own regulation by not informing Coultas that her daughter had been moved from one foster placement to another. The rule requires the department to notify legal custodians such as parents in writing before the move or, if it’s an emergency, tell them verbally and follow up with a written notice.

In this case, it was almost three months of silence, and who knows how much longer if Coultas had not found out by chance.

“I was really upset to hear that and wanted to know why,” Coultas said. “Was it an emergency? Was there conflict? … Why are they keeping this secret? What are they doing? Why not just notify me?”

It was not the first time it had happened. Earlier in 2023, the teenage daughter was moved to a new foster placement for three days, and then moved again, with no notice to her mother. Coultas only found out about the two moves a week later at a court hearing.

This is nowhere near the first time I’ve heard about — and written about — of the department failing to follow laws, regulations or policy, or making mistakes in its reports to Family Court about parents.

So what is the upshot of this lapse? The caseworker apologized in an email.

Talk about consequences.

A Wall Of Silence

I am not going to draw any conclusions here about Coultas’ case. She says it all started because the teenage daughter didn’t want to move to the mainland. I have not spoken to other parties to get their versions. I do know that Coultas was initially facing a criminal charge stemming from the events that led to two daughters being removed. Last year, the charges were dropped.

But all of this is beside the point. CWS’s regulations apply to all parents, whatever the ultimate outcome of their cases.

The about foster moves is clear: “The department shall notify the legal custodian in writing of any change in placement or visitation prior to the change, except in case of emergency when the legal custodian may be notified verbally, to be followed by written notice.”

The removal of the teenage girl from her foster placement in September may have been an emergency. But not only did the department fail to notify Coultas verbally or follow up with a written notice. It didn’t say anything in any form for almost three months.

As it happens, a week after the girl’s placement was changed in September, Family Court held a periodic review hearing on Coultas’ case. But no one there — the CWS caseworker, her supervisor, the GAL or any of the other court officers — told Coultas about the change, she said.

“That would have been the appropriate time to update the court as well because it was pretty relevant to that hearing,” Coultas said.

The CWS case worker Kainoa Schubert admitted the mistake: “You are correct, in that I should have notified you and or your lawyer of the change in placement at the time it was done,” she wrote in an email.

This is pretty paltry comfort for Coultas. But honestly, from my experience dealing with CWS, it was a somewhat refreshing admission of responsibility.

Conflicting Positions

On the question of placing teenage kids with single adults, CWS has been all over the map.

The idea of placing Coultas’ teenage daughter with the 30-year-old man came up in March. The girl requested to be placed with the man, who she knew through two adult sisters.

But, according to a GAL report, it was a no-go. Case worker Schubert said that the man “was not an option from the Department’s standpoint because he is a single male.”

But for reasons shrouded in mystery, by September, CWS was cool with it.

When Coultas found out about it and complained, Schubert said it was a matter of fairness: “We cannot discriminate on placement.”

Schubert cited a regulation that says foster placements should not be denied based on the race or national origin of the foster parent. Fine, Coultas said, this isn’t about any of these categories. This is about the age and gender of the foster parent.

Then the department changed course again when Hartsfield, administrator of the Social Services Division overseeing CWS, wrote to Marilyn Yamamoto, who has been advocating for Coultas.

Hartsfield said that as a result of the concerns, she met with CWS Branch Administrator Elladine Olevao.

“As a result, CWS is revisiting its practice, policy and procedure and will scrutinize the appropriateness of and whether it is in the child’s best interest to be placed with a single caregiver of the opposite sex/gender,” she wrote.

Hartsfield also said CWS would try to improve communications with parents about foster placements and other matters.

I wish they would stop acting like this. Then I could finally stop writing about them.

I don’t know where CWS should come down on this. Certainly it’s possible for young, single people to do a good job as foster parents for teenagers. And couples of any age or gender, supposedly screened by the state, can turn out to be monsters, as we have learned to our horror.

But to the extent that a government should reflect the sensibilities of its community, I’m guessing many Hawaii residents would not be comfortable with the idea of a single 30-year-old male fostering a 15-year-old girl.

And Coultas brings up practical considerations. Would a teenage girl be comfortable talking to a young man about sex, for instance?

In the end, CWS came up with what seems a slapdash solution: One of Coultas’ adult daughters moved into the house owned by the man and officially took over as the foster parent.

No matter what happens, CWS should be clear about its policy on placements and be able to defend it and stick to it.

This whole story is consistent with everything I have written about the child welfare bureaucracy over the past two years.

Yes, it’s true that many parents caught up in this system need help. Some are no doubt beyond help. And some, believe it or not, have been unjustly accused.

Regardless of which category they’re in, they all have rights. And too often, CWS — operating behind a wall of secrecy — wields its awesome powers over these families as if it was judge, jury and executioner. Not bothering to tell a mother that her daughter has been moved to the home of a single man can be summed up in one word: disdain.

I wish they would stop acting like this. Then I could finally stop writing about them.