Report Title:

Child Protection Laws

THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

8

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2001

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING CONTINUED DISCUSSION FOR A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF CURRENT CHILD PROTECTION LAWS.

 

WHEREAS, the Child Protection Legislative Roundtable (Roundtable) is an ad hoc group of service providers and medical specialists in child protection; and

WHEREAS, the Roundtable has been instrumental in improving the Child Protective Services (CPS) system, including the enactment of its recommendations in Act 134, Session Laws of Hawaii (SLH) 1998, and Act 271, SLH 1999; and

WHEREAS, the Roundtable is continuing to meet and to discuss issues relating to child protection, in the recognition that the CPS system is not perfect and that ongoing communication on a daily basis in detecting, preventing, and treating child abuse benefits all participants in their work; and

WHEREAS, although improvements in the CPS system are continually being made, either formally through statutory amendments or informally through collaboration and cooperation among the parties involved in child protection, there still remain specific issues that need to be examined and may need legislation; and

WHEREAS, the Hawaii Appleseed Public Interest Law Foundation (Hawaii Appleseed) is a participating member of the Roundtable and has provided the kind of assistance necessary in reviewing, analyzing, and making recommendations for statutory revisions relating to child protection laws; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to S.C.R. No. 77 (1999) that requested Hawaii Appleseed to conduct a comprehensive assessment of state child protection statutes, Hawaii Appleseed had distributed to the Roundtable during the 1999 legislative interim a discussion draft of a proposed new Child Protective Act; and

WHEREAS, the discussion draft incorporates in one, comprehensive statute provisions drawn from state and federal laws and portions of the Department of Human Services’ regulations and policies; and

WHEREAS, the discussion draft, which was broadly circulated to governmental and private groups interested in the child protection statutory framework, was intended to be a work in progress, and to be later refined and modified into a final product that will receive broad agency, judicial, and community support; and

WHEREAS, there lacked sufficient time during the 1999 legislative interim to craft a final product reflective of the Roundtable and community’s current values and intentions; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the House of Representatives concurring, that Hawaii Appleseed is requested to continue discussion and seek input in its comprehensive assessment of reviewing and conforming current state child protection statutes; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii Appleseed, in cooperation with the Roundtable, is requested to organize a conference and working groups on child protection reform that brings together stakeholders and other interested parties, including the Departments of Health, Human Services, Education, Attorney General, and the Judiciary, for the purpose of massaging the discussion draft into a final product; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii Appleseed conduct a comprehensive review of all relevant federal and State statutes to determine and ensure that the proposed statutory revisions are congruent with federal law and will not jeopardize federal funding to the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii Appleseed, with the assistance of the Roundtable, report the findings, recommendations, and any recommended statutory changes to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Executive Director of Hawaii Appleseed, the Roundtable, Director of Human Services, Director of Health, Superintendent of Education, Attorney General, and Chief Justice of the Hawaii Supreme Court.