Hawaii Supreme Court Will Review Judge’s Decision To Withhold Abused Girl’s Case File
Public First Law Center is trying to open files that would show why the state and Family Court placed Isabella Kalua with the couple accused of killing her.
The Hawaii Supreme Court has ordered parties to submit briefs in a case involving the child welfare records of Isabella Kalua, a Waimanalo girl who was placed by the state with a couple now accused of killing her.
The records would likely show why the state and Family Court chose Isaac and Lehua Kalua to foster and eventually adopt Isabella, whose birth name was Ariel Sellers, despite their criminal records and financial troubles.
Family Court Judge Matthew Viola rejected a petition by Public First Law Center to release the records, saying that the redactions necessary to protect privacy would render the documents “distorted and misleading.”
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued an order giving Viola and other respondents such as the Department of Human Services until Sept. 3 to answer Public First’s petition for writs opening up the records. Public First would have another two weeks after that to address the answers.
The Supreme Court’s order is significant because the state’s highest court could merely have denied Public First’s petition in a brief order without asking for further responses.
