By Annabelle Le Jeune, Partners in Development Foundation

When Michelle Omerod was in high school, she witnessed many of her friends and peers shuffle in and out of foster homes. Some homes, she remembers, were less than ideal for youth in need of extra emotional support.

“My friends were really traumatized,” she said.

That’s why, when Michelle and her husband, Aaron, bought their home in Keaʻau, they opened up their doors to hānai (care for) keiki in foster care – especially teenagers. They currently have six hānai keiki and three biological keiki – and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Since 2020, the Omerods have fostered over 20 ʻōpio (youth). They have also extended a helpful hand to including numerous other keiki in the community who just wanted a safe place to stay and feel loved, even if only temporarily.

Aaron Omerod is a correctional officer. With his background and training, he shares with Michelle how to identify behavior indicative of trauma. Together, they support their keiki as best they can.

“Nobody wants to take on teens because of their ‘baggage.’ But this is their last chance before they become an adult,” Aaron said. “This is our chance to make a difference before we see them on the other side of the bars.”

In Hawaiʻi, there are approximately 1,200 keiki in foster care, and nearly 300 are teenagers. More than half of the incarcerated youth and adult population in Hawaiʻi have a Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander background, and many of those were involved in systems of foster care, child welfare, mental health services, special education, or family court.

“We really value the foster homes we are privileged to work with and have a special place in our hearts for our teen homes like the Omerod ʻohana,” said Alana Power, project director of Project Pilina. “What they communicate to these young lives in foster care is that you are worth loving and investing time in – and that kindness they share in providing a safe home makes such a difference. We hope to empower more community members to do the same.”

Project Pilina is a statewide program that recruits and guides resource caregiver applicants through the first steps of the general licensing process. The program, under Partners in Development Foundation, seeks to build relationships within island communities by raising awareness about foster care. For anyone ready to start the application process, a community liaison will serve and assist in the initial steps of the general licensing process to foster keiki.

For those who are unsure about taking the first steps in becoming resource caregivers, there are many other ways to support children in the Hawaiʻi foster care system.

Every month, Project Pilina hosts virtual statewide information sessions with community liaisons open to anyone interested in learning more about foster care, volunteer opportunities, and other ways to get involved. Participants may also have an opportunity to hear directly from former youth in foster care or current resource caregivers.

Community events like the East Hawaiʻi’s Job Readiness Fair are designed to help youth in foster care and those with resource caregivers. The event focuses on workforce preparedness and basic financial education and youth who attend will be able to choose gift cards for Old Navy, Macy’s, or Jean’s Warehouse to purchase job-ready attire. The next job readiness fair will be held at the Connect Point Church in Hilo on Saturday, May 6 from 8:30 a.m.- 1:00 p.m. and all interested youth are encouraged to attend.

While the Omerod ʻohana will continue to open their heart and home to keiki in care, they urge the larger community to support the overall foster care system.

“Honestly, it’s not even just for foster homes, really. Other people, too, should try to provide assistance for the state because they need help. There’re so many kids and there aren’t enough social workers. It’s not their fault. The foster care system struggles because they need more help,” Michelle said.

The Omerods sometimes experience challenges raising their hānai and biological keiki together, but they say that the rewards of supporting youth in foster care far outweigh the adversities.

The couple agrees that seeing the keiki overcome each boundary and obstacle thrown their way because of the situation they were born into inspires them to keep going.

The post Opening Their Hearts to Keiki in Foster Care appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Ke kōkua nei ʻo Pat Rice, he kumu no ka manawa lōʻihi, a me kekahi mau puʻu kālā no OHA mai i Ke Kula Waena Hoʻāmana Aupuni i ka hoʻomohala ʻana i nā papahana kākoʻo haumāna.

He nui nā kānaka e kākoʻo ana i nā haumāna o Ke Kula Waena ʻo Waimea, akā he keu ke kōkua o ia kumu mākaukau loa ʻo Pat Rice.

Aia ʻo Rice ma ia kula mai ka makahiki 1975. He kumu ʻo ia i kīnohi, a laila he kumu aʻo, a laila he hope poʻo kumu, a he poʻo kumu hoʻi ʻo ia i ʻehā mau manawa. Ua līkaia ʻo ia i ʻelua manawa, akā ʻo ia mau nō kāna kākoʻo iā lākou. I kēia manawa he laekahi holomua nona ke kuleana o ka noi kālā no ka pono o ke kula, a me ka hoʻokō ʻana i nā kuleana o ka noi kālā ʻana.

“Hohonu loa koʻu aloha i ke kaiāulu ʻo Waimea,” wahi āna. “ʻOiai ua hana pū me nā kūpuna, nā mākua, a me nā ʻohana hou aʻe o ko mākou mau haumāna, he mahalo koʻu i ka pilina i ulu aʻela i loko o nā makahiki i hala, a ʻo kēia mau pilina ke kumu o koʻu noke mau ʻana i ka hana.”

A ke kōkua mau nei nō ʻo Rice. I ka hoʻi ʻana o nā haumāna i ke kahua kula ma ke emi ʻana mai o ka maʻi COVID-19, ua hoʻomaopopo koke ʻo Rice i ke ʻano ʻokoʻa o nā haumāna, a me ke ʻano ʻē o kā lākou mau lawena. Pēlā i hoʻomaka ai ʻo Rice i kāna noiʻi e pili ana i ke kākau noi kālā ʻana a paʻa maila he puʻu kālā Mālama i Nā ʻŌpio o ka huina he $60,000.

“Me ka puʻu kālā ʻo Mālama I Nā ʻŌpio i hai ai mākou i kekahi kumu pāheona/kumu aʻoaʻo i mākaukau i ke aʻoaʻo pōʻino. Ua hoʻomaopopo ihola mākou i ka hoʻi ʻana mai o nā haumāna ma hope o ka wā maʻi ahulau, e pilikia ana lākou i ka launa kanaka,a he pono nā mākua e mākaukau i ke kōkua i ia mau keiki pōpilikia loʻohia ʻoiai lākou e hoʻi hou ana i ke kahua kula,” wahi a Rice.

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“ʻO ka hopena helu ʻekahi o nā papahana i loaʻa mai ma o kēia puʻu kālā, ʻo ia ka hiki i nā haumāna kānalua ke hōʻike aku i ko lākou naʻau ma o ka pāheona, ma kahi o ka kamaʻilio ʻana. Pēlā i alu like mai ai ke kumu aʻoaʻo a me nā limahana ʻē aʻe ma ke kula, a pēlā pū nā ʻohana haumāna i mea e hoʻolālā ai i ala e hoʻoponopono ai.”

“ʻO Ke Kula Waena o Waimea kekahi o ʻekolu mau kula hoʻāmana aupuni, ʻo Kamaile Academy o Oʻahu a me nā kula kamaliʻi a me kula haʻahaʻa o Kualapuʻu ma Molokaʻi kekahi nā kula o ka Hoʻokākoʻo Corporation. Hoʻokumu ʻia i ka makahiki 2002, he ʻoihana kū i ka ʻauhau ʻole ʻo Hoʻokākoʻo e mohala maila i mea e makaʻala a e hoʻololi aku i nā papahana hoʻonaʻauao ma nā kula ʻekolu. Mai loko mai o ia pūʻulu kula aia nō he 15% o nā haumāna kula hoʻāmana o ke aupuni. He mau Hawaiʻi ka hapalua a ʻoi o nā haumāna ma ke Kula Waena O Waimea.”

ʻOiai ʻo Hoʻokākoʻo ka mea kākoʻo kālā no ko Waimea puʻu kālā ʻo Mālama I Nā ʻŌpio, ua kākau ʻo David Gibson, ke Poʻo Kuhina o Hoʻokākoʻo, ʻo Lydia Trinidad, ke Poʻo Kumu o Kualapuʻu, a me Rice i ka puʻu kālā ʻelua mai OHA, a ua lilo nō.

Hana mai ana ʻo Hoʻokākoʻo i ka papahana ʻo Ke Awa Hoʻomalu ma Ke Kula Waena o Waimea a me Ke Kula ʻo Kualapuʻu ma ka Puʻu Kālā Kaiāulu maiā OHA o ka huina he $220,000. I waena o ʻelua makahiki o ia puʻu kālā e hoʻopiʻi ʻia ana ka hoʻonaʻauao ʻōiwi i kū ma ka ʻāina, a me nā papahana hou aku no ka pono noʻonoʻo o nā keiki Hawaiʻi a me ko lākou mau ʻohana ma nā kula a ʻelua.

“I loko nō o ko mākou manaʻolana nui, nele Ke Kula Waena ʻo Waimea i nā lako ʻole e kākoʻo ai ma ke ʻano kaiāulu a kula hoʻi i nā haumāna a me nā ʻohana, i hiki ai hoʻi ke hoʻoholomua i ka hoʻonaʻauao a me ka pono noʻonoʻo o ke aʻo ʻana. ʻO ke kanaka hoʻopili ʻohana i hoʻolako ʻia e ka puʻu kālā ʻo Ke Awa Hoʻomalu ka mea nāna e alu like ana me nā haumāna, a ma ko lākou mau ʻohana iho, i mea e hoʻolālā ai i nā papahana pilikino me ka manaʻo e hoʻopili aku iā lākou nei i nā papahana kula a me nā papahana kaiāulu a nā ʻohana i ʻike ʻole ai ma mua, no ka pono o nā keiki pākahi “ wahi a Rice.

“‘Oiai he kula hoʻāmana kālele Hawaiʻi mākou, hoʻohana mākou i nā pono e ʻhoʻoikaik i ko nā haumāna mākau, waiwai, a ʻike Hawaiʻi hoʻi i hiki ai ke hoʻokele aku i ke kula kiʻekiʻe a mau loa aku,’ a he mahele ia o ko lākou mākia ma Waimea. Mea nui ke kākoʻo o OHA i ka hoʻomohala ʻana i nā papahana no nā haumāna a me nā ʻohana.

The post Kākoʻo i Ke Kula Waena ʻo Waimea appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

Long-time Waimea educator Pat Rice and a pair of OHA grants are helping Waimea Middle Public Conversion Charter School expand its student services.

There are many people involved in supporting the students of Waimea Middle School, but maybe none as truly dedicated as veteran educator Pat Rice.

Rice has been at the school since 1975, first as a teacher, then as a counselor, on to a vice principal, and she’s also served as principal on four different occasions. She’s even retired twice, but today you’ll still find her serving the institution, now as the organization’s school improvement specialist, tasked with writing grants for the school and following up on grant accountability.

“I deeply care for the Waimea community,” she said. “Having worked with our students’ grandparents and parents and with their expanded ‘ohana, I’m grateful for the connections we have made over the years, and it is these connections that keep me trying to help even more.”

Rice is certainly still helping. When students began returning to in-person learning as the COVID-19 pandemic eased, Rice observed that they weren’t fully engaging in the school setting and were having behavioral issues. Rice began her grant-writer research and secured an OHA COVID-19 Impact and Response grant worth $60,000.

“The Mālama i nā ʻŌpio grant enabled us to hire a trauma-informed art teacher/counselor. We knew that students returning from the pandemic would have many social-emotional issues and that they would need trained adults to help them manage their anxieties as they transitioned back to an in-person school setting,” Rice said.

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“Perhaps the most significant thing about this grant has been that students who were hesitant to express their feelings verbally felt safe when afforded opportunities to express them through the creative process. That opened the door for the counselor to collaborate with others at the school and with the students’ families to help the students develop effective coping strategies.”

Waimea Middle School is one of three public conversion charter schools, along with Kamaile Academy on Oʻahu and Kualapuʻu Preschool and Elementary School on Molokaʻi, that make up the community of the Hoʻokākoʻo Corporation. Established in 2002, Hoʻokākoʻo is a private, nonprofit organization that has grown to oversee and transform education programs at the three schools which comprise nearly 15% of Hawaiʻi’s public charter school student population.

More than half of the student population at Waimea Middle School is Hawaiian.

While Hoʻokākoʻo served as the fiscal sponsor for Waimea’s COVID-19 response grant, Hoʻokākoʻo Executive Director David Gibson, Kualapuʻu Principal Lydia Trinidad and Rice collaborated on writing a second grant which received another award from OHA.

Hoʻokākoʻo is implementing its Ke Awa Hoʻomalu (Safe Harbor) project at Waimea Middle School and Kualapuʻu School thanks to a $220,000 Community Grant from OHA. The two-year grant is being used to increase access to Hawaiian culture-based educational, behavioral and mental health services for Native Hawaiian children and their families at both schools.

“Despite our best intentions, we lack the resources at Waimea Middle School to help all students and their families to access the much-needed community and/or school services that can improve student educational and social-emotional learning outcomes. The ʻohana engagement facilitator provided through the Ke Awa Hoʻomalu grant is working with students and their families to create personalized plans intended to help our families link to school-level and community-based supports that they have previously been unaware of in an effort to provide wrap-around services individualized for each child,” Rice said.

“As a Hawaiian-focused charter school, we utilize all our resources to ‘empower all students with the skills, values, and cultural understanding to successfully navigate high school and beyond,’ which is our mission statement at Waimea. The support provided by OHA has been crucial in expanding our services to students and their families.”

The post Supporting Waimea Middle School appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

“ʻIke aku, ʻike mai, kōkua aku, kōkua mai; pela iho la ka nohona ʻohana.
Recognize and be recognized, help and be helped; such is family life.”
Family life requires an exchange of mutual help and recognition.

There’s no denying the importance of ʻohana as a Native Hawaiian cultural value.

ʻOhana is instrumental to community empowerment. When families are strong and healthy, they can thrive. The connections that Native Hawaiians have to their culture and land begin with the connections within their own families.

No wonder then, that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ Mana i Mauli Ola Strategic Plan 2020-2035 includes three foundations – ʻohana, moʻomeheu (culture) and ʻāina (land and water) – and recognizes that these foundations have the power to affect the wellbeing of Native Hawaiians.

“OHA’s funding helps to support the foundational principles that make our communities strong, said Edeluisa Baguio-Larena, the chief executive officer for Maui Family Support Services, Inc. (MFSS).

“This support helps families to meet their needs and connect with each other, learn about their culture and what makes them who they are, and helps them to not just learn about the land, but how to build a relationship with the land – which helps families build their future and increase their self-sufficiency and sustainability.”

MFSS is currently using a $41,199 OHA grant to help fund its Hoʻowaiwai Kaiāulu Project: Molokaʻi. The project provides a continuum of programs intended to strengthen the physical and mental wellbeing of Native Hawaiian ʻohana and keiki, increase their social and emotional competence, and improve ʻohana strengths and resilience.

The Hoʻowaiwai Kaiāulu program, which also provides services on Maui, includes an Outreach and Resource Specialists (OARS) component which identifies families in need of support and provides community referrals to services.

Hoʻowaiwai Kaiāulu Home Visiting (HKHV) provides in-person or virtual services to families who are pregnant or who have children ages 0-5. This component utilizes the Parents as Teachers model and incorporates Hawaiian culture providing child health and development information and group activities for parents and children.

Additionally, a Kāne Connections arm provides support groups for men and parents via Hui Kāne and Kamālama Parenting Groups.

OHA funding for Hoʻowaiwai Kaiāulu Molokaʻi services are used for direct staffing costs and are a portion of the total costs of the program, which is also funded by the Native Hawaiian Education Program of the federal U.S. Department of Education.

Baguio-Larena said the key to the success of their program is the direct service staff that are helping the Molokaʻi community. “They are the ones who are really making a difference in the community,” she said.

That staff includes Quality Care for Hawaiian Keiki Program Director Daphne Ladia, a 20-year MFSS veteran who was raised on Molokaʻi; Zelia “Dutchess” Wills, a graduate of Molokaʻi High School who serves as an outreach and resource specialist and family support worker; Samuel Holi who is a parent support specialist, a graduate of the MFSS Kane Connections program, and the MFSS 2019 Father of the Year; and Cordy Racadio, a parent support specialist who assists the Molokaʻi community virtually through the online Kamālama Parent Groups program.

Baguio-Larena said the Molokaʻi community is one of a kind and that it has been important to be able to gain the confidence of the island residents.

“Molokaʻi is definitely unique,” she said. “The Hawaiian culture is rich and prevalent. The way of life has a different focus for many families on Molokaʻi compared to Maui. There is a higher reliance on and connection to the ʻāina and because resources are limited, families rely on each other and creative ways to meet their needs – often working together to support each other.

“The community is also very protective and connecting to community members and being diligent in supporting the community helps to build that rapport and trust within the community.”

Baguio-Larena said the work of MFSS has its challenges and rewards.

“Funding is a significant challenge, especially funding that is long term. Another challenge is engaging families. Often, families do not see the value in the services we provide, or they are so busy just trying to survive that they don’t think they have the time for the services,” she said.

“But being able to see and hear about how families have been able to strengthen their communication skills, their parenting skills, their knowledge of child development and resource awareness and utilization – and seeing them connect to other parents and their community – that is the greatest reward for the work that we are doing.”

The post Strengthening ʻOhana on Molokaʻi appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

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“He kēhau hoʻomaʻemaʻe ke aloha.
Love is like cleansing dew.”
Love removes hurt.

It was October of 2008 when the Hawaiian community at Anahola on Kauaʻi was shaken as they mourned the loss of three young Native Hawaiians who tragically took their own lives.

Coming together to remember these ʻōpio, concerned residents formed Kūkulu Kumuhana O Anahola (KKOA), a community nonprofit with a mission to provide safe places to deter suicide by building life skills that strengthen Hawaiian cultural identity, empowering individuals to successfully manage their future.

Three separate grants from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) are helping the organization to achieve its vision of a healthy and thriving Hawaiian community in Anahola that is active in traditional and modern culture; utilizes new technologies to enhance the old; and establishes and manages its own food system to provide a healthy and sustainable way of living.

A key piece to KKOA’s overall strategy has been the ongoing development of the Ulupono Anahola Agricultural Community and Youth Center. The 10-acre facility, located on Hawaiian Home Lands, will include kalo patches, fruit trees, a community garden, a storage and processing area, meeting rooms and more.

Download the Ulupono Anahola Agricultural Community Site Map – PDF Format

A $75,000 OHA grant is currently being used to install a water irrigation system for the farm while another $100,000 grant has been awarded to KKOA for its “Hana Ka Lima” initiative which is providing programs and opportunities to the homestead community to establish thriving ʻōpio with well-developed skills and involve mākua and community leaders who are invested in nurturing ʻŌiwi leaders.

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A $10,000 OHA ʻAhahui grant sponsored the group’s three-day “ʻĀina to ʻŌpū” community event held in December 2021 where cultural practitioners provided educational demonstrations to help restore proficiency of kalo as a heritage plant and homestead food resource.

KKOA Co-Founder and President Kuʻuleialoha Punua and Executive Director Rae Makanani Nam have impressed OHA’s Grants staff with their dedication, passion and community spirit.

“Kuʻuleialoha and Rae have worked around the clock to meet the needs of the Anahola community and to accomplish their dream of establishing an agricultural and youth training center in Anahola. Working with the women who run KKOA, visiting scholars have seen firsthand the small, daily tasks involved in their longer-term struggle to express their aloha ʻāina through supporting the youth and families of Anahola, and via securing land for Hawaiian food sovereignty and prosperity,” said OHA Grants Officer Strather Ing.

Nam joined KKOA as a board member in 2013 and stepped into the role of executive director in November 2020 to oversee the Ulupono Ana- hola project, which is expected to open in phases with the first phase comprised of student and community garden training beginning in November 2022. The entire project is planned for completion in three to five years, depending on funding.

“With Ulupono Anahola, we’ll be able to provide so much more that will impact the community. This project will provide a certified kitchen for the community to use, community gardens for both ʻohana and youth, a youth center, a hale hālāwai, a nursery, and a medicinal garden area. We still have an additional 20 acres we requested in our original right of entry, but for now we’ll start with this 10-acre property,” Nam said.

Nam said she is very appreciative of being awarded the grants, with OHA just one of several organizations that support the work of KKOA.

“The OHA grants will help our youth be resilient and realize their value and worth to their families and community, allow them to continue to perpetuate their culture, and provide a healthy and thriving food system in the community that will help them to not be dependent on imported foods,” she said.

“These grants will also provide a safe place for resources and gatherings that will strengthen these children individually and collectively. The grants will also open doors for economic stability in the future and educate both our youth and ʻohana in growing their own foods. All of these opportunities are proven to deter suicide, which has been a concern on Kauaʻi and specifically in the Anahola community for years.”

Nam said there’s a bigger picture of what the OHA Grants Program is achieving.

“What OHA is helping with is not just accomplishing KKOAʻs projects or goals for the Anahola community. Their grants are literally changing the landscape of the ʻāina in the Anahola community, which is triggering a chain reaction that isn’t only affecting the ʻāina, but it’s affecting people and moving them to participate and not just be bystanders,” she said.

“The grants provide for workshops and programs that perpetuate our culture – like making their own papa kuʻiʻai, planting or harvesting kalo, learning from cultural practitioners and our kūpuna and more – OHA’s assistance is helping KKOA to trigger all the possibilities of drawing out the very best from this community.”

Related Article: Everybody Loves Rae

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Local community groups and organizations are working to raise awareness about the violence that Native Hawaiian women, girls and māhū face in Hawaiʻi. The data shows that Native Hawaiian women and girls are disproportionately represented as victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence.

“Historically, missing and murdered Native Hawaiian women and girls have been excluded from national recognition, although local women’s rights advocates, survivors and families have long held that a crisis exists in Hawaiʻi,” says Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of the Hawaiʻi State Commission on the Status of Women (HSCSW).

In 2020, HSCSW surveyed 97 sex trafficking victims and found that 64% identified as Native Hawaiian. From 2017 to 2019, one out of every three child sex trafficking victims reported to the Child Welfare Services Child Sex Trafficking Hotline were Native Hawaiian.

Last year, a state task force was established to address the problem thanks, in part, to a resolution sponsored by Rep. Stacelynn Eli. The task force is led by HSCSW and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) with support from other state agencies, local authorities, and community organizations.

So far, the task force has raised $50,000 to fund research about the crisis locally and members have undergone training by the Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI), the national watchdog and epidemiology center on MMIWG-US. But simply collecting data will not end the violence against Indigenous women and girls. Solutions are needed.

In July 2013, in Lame Deer, Montana, 21-year-old Hanna Harris of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe was reported missing by her family. Police did not consider the report serious, but a week later her body was found. The single mother had been sexually assaulted and beaten to death.

Five years ago, in an effort to raise awareness and encourage change around the epidemic of MMIWG, a National Day of Awareness was established on May 5 – Hanna’s birthdate. It is a day to commemorate Hanna and other missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Here in Hawaiʻi, May 5 events include a Red Dress Art Activism event in Waikīkī, and on Maui there will be sign-waving in downtown Kahului followed by a cross-island motorcycle convoy on May 7. On Oʻahu, Waikīkī was specifically chosen to bring public awareness to the toxic intersection of tourism, poverty, sex trafficking and violence.

“Factors unique to Hawaiʻi – like the high numbers of tourists and the substantial military presence – fuel sex trafficking and put Native Hawaiian girls, in particular, at risk of violence,” said Jabola-Carolus.

Ultimately, education and awareness are key to ending this crisis.

Show your support and spread awareness for this movement by wearing red on May 5, and by attending MMIWG awareness events in Waikīkī and Kahului.

The post Seeing Red appeared first on Ka Wai Ola.

The statistics are alarming: In 2021, some 2,500 children, infants to age 18, were in Hawaiʻi’s foster care system. More than 44% of them were of Native Hawaiian ancestry.

Nā Kāma a Hāloa aims to change that. This community-based network was formed in September 2018 “to weave Native Hawaiian wisdom and perspective into the Hawaiʻi foster care system.” Partners include more than 15 agencies and organizations that work in child welfare and/or serve the Native Hawaiian population, including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, Liliʻuokalani Trust, and Child Welfare Services (CWS). Native Hawaiian foster parents and birth parents and youths with lived experience in child welfare also contribute their valuable insights.

The knowledge that child welfare workers, foster parents and families receiving services have about Native Hawaiian ʻike, history and cultural values varies greatly. Hui Kauhale, one of Nā Kāma a Hāloa’s five committees, develops programs that increase their understanding, so better outcomes can be achieved.

Casey Family Programs, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Victoria S. and Bradley L. Geist Foundation are among the organizations that have funded Hui Kauhale’s projects, one of the most recent being a four-hour module for CWS’ core training program. Development of “Understanding Cultural Diversity, Inclusion & Equity: A Native Hawaiian Perspective” began two years ago. It is geared to newly hired CWS staff members (from entry-level to senior administrators) and new hires for CWS’ contracted providers, among them Catholic Charities, Child & Family Services, and Parents & Children Together.

“It’s a sad fact that Native Hawaiians are disproportionately represented in the local child welfare system,” said Venus Rosete-Medeiros, chief executive officer of Hale Kipa (a Nā Kāma a Hāloa partner) and a member of Hui Kauhale. “Our committee thought that if child welfare workers have a solid background in Hawaiian history, culture and perspectives, they could be more effective at their jobs. It’s human nature for people to approach situations with preconceived ideas, and that impacts the way they relate to others. After completing the training, we hope participants will be able to set aside their biases and assumptions and be better prepared to help the families we serve.”

Rosete-Medeiros; Ekela Kaniaupio-Cozier, Hawaiian culture-based education coordinator at Kamehameha Schools Maui; and Noe Realin, quality assurance advisor for Liliʻuokalani Trust, played key roles in creating the content. The first session, held via Zoom on March 24 with a cohort of 13, included a film, a PowerPoint presentation and facilitated discussions.

One component of the training focuses on the story of kalo and Hāloa, the first Kanaka ʻŌiwi. Kalo is revered as Kānaka ʻŌiwi’s life-sustaining ancestor. It also symbolizes ʻohana. ʻOhā, the buds of the corm, are replanted in the loʻi to yield new crops of kalo just as new generations of ʻohana thrive when they have strong roots and are properly tended.

“Kalo is a metaphor for keiki and ʻohana,” Rosete-Medeiros said. “Every part of the kalo has purpose and value, just as every member of the ʻohana does. The loʻi kalo is a metaphor for the child welfare system and the role it plays in supporting families. Kalo needs the rich soil and clean, flowing water in the loʻi to grow strong and healthy. Agencies working alongside Child Welfare Services provide parenting classes, mental health counseling, substance use treatment, employment and housing assistance and other vital resources for families to grow strong and healthy.”

ʻAuwai carry fresh water to the loʻi kalo; an auē situation results when they become clogged or stagnant. Similarly, problems arise when efforts and effective communication in the child welfare system are blocked.

“When kalo is being cultivated, all of the workers are responsible for taking care of the ʻauwai, so clean, fresh water constantly flows into the loʻi, ensuring bountiful harvests,” Rosete-Medeiros said. “It is the same for those of us who work in child welfare. We have a kuleana to do our part, to work together to ensure that programs and services for our keiki, ʻōpio and ʻohana run smoothly. That support is delivered in many ways by many people, and everyone’s kūlana is important.”

Understanding fundamental Hawaiian values — aloha, ʻohana, mālama, laulima, lōkahi and puʻuhonua — is another pillar of the training. All are rooted in Hawaiian history and tradition.

For example, Rosete-Medeiros points out how puʻuhonua were refuges for injured warriors in ancient times. The warriors were treated there by kāhuna lapaʻau until they were able to return home or to the battlefield. Puʻuhonua were also sanctuaries for those who broke a kapu. When they completed the required rituals, they could return to society, their transgressions forgiven.

“We can help mākua be their children’s puʻuhonua,” Rosete-Medeiros said. “We can help them create a home environment that provides the love, acceptance, emotional support and guidance that keiki need to become healthy, confident and successful adults. It’s important that the ʻohana we serve have a puʻuhonua, a place where they feel safe, happy, comfortable and nurtured.”

Child welfare workers can also be a puʻuhonua by being kind, encouraging, respectful and receptive rather than punitive, negative, discriminatory and judgmental. “Vulnerable individuals most likely have experienced some sort of trauma in their lives,” Rosete-Medeiros says. “It’s important to understand the effects trauma has on behavior and to have the skills, empathy and knowledge to devise a service plan that will promote healing. That saying is so true: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

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When a high school math teacher noticed that her frequently absent student showed up to their community church every week she wondered, “what’s going on?”

Tenth-grader Patricia Duh had just lost her mother and had been in and out of foster homes for most of her teenage years. Upon learning this, the high school teacher and her husband filed for a child-specific fostering license and opened the door to what would be Patricia’s final placement – a place she still calls home.

“Young people are just looking for a place where they can belong,” Duh said. “We’ve gone through so many hardships where people have failed us in the past.”

Duh went on to become a resource caregiver (foster parent) to two foster youth while caring for her own biological child. She also earned herself a seat among the 4% of foster youth who obtain a bachelor’s degree, turning her life experiences into positive outcomes as the Pono Process Lead for Epic ʻOhana.

While Duh’s case is unique, her experiences are shared and speak for many children in the foster care system. On any given day in Hawaiʻi, there are approximately 1,500 children in foster care. Over half of those foster children are Native Hawaiian.

“We’re trying to find resource caregivers that will accept children for who they are and support them in being successful in the future, and that could mean reunification with their parents, or in school, making friends, or just being themselves and being okay with being themselves,” said Monica Kaʻauwai, Kauaʻi Community Liaison at Project Pilina, a foster care services program of nonprofit Partners in Development Foundation.

Project Pilina is a statewide program that recruits and guides resource caregiver applicants through the first steps of the general licensing process. Kaʻauwai and her teammates seek to build relationships within island communities by raising awareness about foster care. For anyone ready to start the application process, a community liaison will serve and assist in the general licensing process.

While being a resource caregiver can be challenging, Kaʻauwai notes that “it’s also rewarding when you get to spend time with a child who has basically had everything taken away from them – and you get to support them in just being a typical kid.”

For those who are unsure about taking the first steps in becoming resource caregivers, there are many other ways to support children in the Hawaiʻi foster care system.

Foster Care Session – Long Description

Every month Project Pilina hosts virtual statewide information sessions with local community liaisons that are open to anyone interested in learning more about foster care, volunteer opportunities, and other ways to get involved. Participants may also have an opportunity to hear directly from former foster youth or current resource caregivers.

Other community events, like Kaʻauwai’s free family movie night in Anahola at the end of May, will celebrate National Foster Care Awareness Month. Events include participatory activities that embrace ʻohana in all shapes and sizes, help keiki feel good about themselves, and build pride in one’s ʻohana – whether biological or hānai (fostered or adopted).

When Duh looks back at what supported her most through her times of need, she recalls an incident when, as a teen, she chucked everything out of her room, crying in a rage, and locked herself in the closet. Her mom, as Duh still calls her to this day, sat outside of the closet and just waited for her daughter to get through her emotions and calm down.

“My foster mom knew – something is happening right now, and I don’t know how to help her, but I’m not going to leave. I’m not going to pry, but I’m also not going to leave in this moment. That memory stays with me forever till today. The fact that someone showed up, like really showed up,” recalled Duh.

Every time her foster parents stood by her side, even when they did not know exactly what was happening or how to help, their patience and presence was all the love Patricia Duh needed to persevere.

Go to www.pidf.org for more information about becoming a resource caregiver and for details about the next statewide information sessions on May 2 at 6 p.m. and on June 14 at 9 a.m. Partners in Development Foundation empowers families to navigate social challenges and to grow self-resiliency, vibrancy, and healthy, secure communities in Hawaiʻi.

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After nearly 100 years in Kailua, HYCF is undergoing a physical and spiritual transformation, rebranding itself to become the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center and to realize a new vision for Hawaiʻi’s juvenile justice system.

The site was originally established in 1928 as the Kawailoa Training School for Girls, a reformatory school and a farm/ranch operation. In 1962, the boys’ and girls’ schools were combined to form what is now the HYCF, and the DOE opened Olomana School there to meet special educational needs for children in Windward Oʻahu.

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In 2014, major legislation and a mandate to focus on community-based interventions for at-risk youth and culturally based healing began the transformation of Hawaiʻi’s juvenile justice system. Patterson, the former warden of the Women’s Community Correctional Center (WCCC), was chosen to lead HYCF in this new direction; his vision is for physical and spiritual rehabilitation of both the keiki and the ʻāina.

With years of experience in corrections, Patterson was troubled by the fact that Hawaiʻi’s prisons were filled with Hawaiians, almost all of whom had a history of family trauma. To address this, Patterson developed an innovative rehabilitation model to use at WCCC, but knew he could better influence the future by working with youth.

“Nearly all of the kids who end up at HYCF have experienced trauma in their homes due to poverty, houselessness, abuse and victimization, as well as drug addiction and mental health issues,” Patterson explained.

“Many come from foster care with parents who are also incarcerated. By affording them support and a real opportunity to succeed, we can prevent them from ending up in the adult criminal justice system. And if we can reach into the community to help families heal and strengthen, if we can provide safe shelter, stability, and community for youth who really need it, then maybe we can keep them from ending up in the system altogether.”

When he started with HYCF in 2014, Patterson continued to build on work that had begun four years earlier by advocates from the juvenile justice system, family court, youth-serving state agencies and community youth service providers to aggressively divert juveniles to community-based alternatives instead of incarceration.

And it seemed to work.

In just a few years, the number of youth incarcerated at HYCF dropped from nearly 100 at its peak to about 25 on any given day. This 75% reduction in incarceration has allowed Patterson to repurpose the HYCF campus’ 20 structures and 300 acres of agricultural land, and reinvest dollars initially earmarked for corrections.

In 2018, the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center was born. The legislature authorized Patterson to begin transforming the correctional center campus into a place of healing. Within months, buildings and grounds formerly used to jail juveniles were transformed into community- and family-oriented program spaces including a young adult homeless shelter, a residential vocational training program for youth and young adults, and an assessment center and shelter for young victims of sex trafficking.

Patterson laid the foundation for a puʻuhonua where Hawaiian healing modalities are integrated with therapeutic programming. Already, keiki and ʻohana can find both healing programs and supportive services from several community service providers and state agencies at Kawailoa Center.

And this is just the beginning. Patterson says there is more work to be done and plenty of space. He hopes to expand Kawailoa Center’s current programs and services for youth with unmet mental health needs. These youth, who comprise a substantial portion of HYCF’s population, are transferred to the continent for treatment not available in Hawaiʻi. Patterson also wants to focus on young adults who experience a gap in services as they age out of foster care or even HYCF. “These young adults are the fastest-growing homeless population and many face a near-certain future in the adult correctional system,” he said.

With the help of the state, the Kailua community, and the keiki and ʻohana of Kawailoa, Patterson plans to continue transforming the Kawailoa Center’s serene campus into a place of healing.

Plans include creating a residential mental health treatment facility, expanding vocational training opportunities and transitional housing by reviving Kawailoa’s ranch practices, establishing a Hawaiian heritage center, restoring Kukuipilau Heiau (located on the property), building a hale for faith-based activities, and renovating the existing athletic complex. Together he hopes these offerings will provide youth with multi-faceted opportunities for personal healing and prosocial community building.

But for now, in the quiet peace and rolling hills of Kawailoa, youth who have had a difficult start in life can find safety and healing and the freedom to dream big dreams.

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Ka ‘ike a ka makua he hei na ke keiki. ‘Ōlelo No‘eau # 1397
(The knowledge of the parent is (unconsciously) absorbed by the child.)

Sharing family mo‘olelo (stories)…family history and names, is a tradition that enriches the lives of our children and grandchildren. Family stories and names provide foundational knowledge and create personal links between the youngest and oldest ‘ohana members. Families have stories of industrious efforts and achievements that can inspire and direct the lives of keiki and mo‘opuna. Sharing these traditions and knowledge enlightens, and it protects this precious personal information… passing it on before it’s forgotten. ‘Ohana (family) learn about their ancestors…who they were, where and how they lived, as well as what their work, accomplishments, and pleasures were. Families with kupuna who can tell ‘ohana mo‘olelo are fortunate indeed. Providing a historical linkage about the kuleana (responsibilities) of the kūpuna and mākua will give our keiki (children) and mo‘opuna (grandchildren) a personal view of what goes into creating and supporting a family.

Our youngsters should know the special skills and accomplishments that were practiced by their elders. Was the family large or small? What gave them joy or brought concern? Tell stories that elders have passed down to you…both, serious and funny. All family gatherings provide perfect mo‘olelo-sharing opportunities for making ancestral connections. Kawena Pukui tells us that Hawaiian families include all members of the current generation, as well as family members who are immortals…our ‘aumakua. Establishing special ties to family history strengthens respect for the accomplishments of the elders and can raise self-expectations among family youngsters.

Kawena Pukui, in Nana I Ke Kumu (QLT, 1972), shares, that in the old days, personal possessions were few but were highly valued. “Poi pounders, woven mats, a man’s malo (loin cloth), a stone adze of a canoe-maker, the bone hooks of a fisherman, the spear of a warrior…all these were prized. But even more precious, was each man’s most personal possession, his name.” “One’s name, his inoa was both owned property and a force in its own right. Once spoken an inoa took on an existence, invisible, intangible, but real.”

Mākua (parents) know the family name. But, do they know the historical origins of the name…what it means? Has it been shortened, altered or completely changed? How did the ancestors earn that name? When researching one’s kinfolk and family history, remember that names are precious family possessions, so there is kuleana to owning that name. Aunty Kawena tells us that a Hawaiian name might tell something about a child’s birth, or reveal a family lineage, the occupation of ancestors or a special mana (power). And, every name was believed to hold its own mana or… even kapu (taboo, privilege), that played a role in shaping the character, personality or fortunes of the bearer. The name could reveal a person’s specific physical characteristics, a family tradition or the family-kuleana (responsibility). Back in history, as now, names play an important role in shaping one’s self-image. Names are very important.

Not long ago, two women told how they use this cultural value…family names and family mo‘olelo… with teenagers who exhibited behavioral problems in the classroom and needed a bit of grounding. After listening to their kupuna tell their childhood stories, explaining the family name and telling the family history…the teens made changes to their behaviors…just by learning and respecting their own family history.

Our title, “Ka ‘ike a ka makua he hei na ke keiki”, (The knowledge of the parent is (unconsciously) absorbed by the child) is an appropriate ‘Ōlelo (adage) when sharing family histories with our children and grandchildren. Share a family story with your keiki today. Make them aware that their behaviors and lives can make a real difference to the entire ‘ohana.

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