STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2676

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.R. No. 34

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2010

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.R. No. 34 entitled:

 

"SENATE RESOLUTION URGING THE PROVISION OF ORIENTATION AND ADDITIONAL TRAINING TO INCREASE THE ABILITY OF STATE AGENCY CASE WORKERS TO ADDRESS THE ISSUES FACED BY GRANDPARENTS RAISING GRANDCHILDREN,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to urge the Department of Human Services to provide its case workers with information and training so they will better understand the issues faced by grandparents who are raising grandchildren that are in the custody of Child Protective Services of the Department of Human Services.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by Hawaii Family Forum.  Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee finds that there is an increasing number of grandparents raising their grandchildren due to various crises in the children's home, and that grandparents are generally unaware of how the system addressing these crises works.  These grandparents often do not ask for help for fear of their grandchildren being taken away.  These grandparents are also unaware of resources in place specifically to help them.  Your Committee also finds that case workers employed by the Department of Human Services and Child Protective Services have little or no information on how these grandparents feel nor what they need during the process.  This measure will benefit all parties involved by ensuring that case workers know what to expect and how to appropriately deal with grandparents that are raising their grandchildren due to family crisis.

 

     Your Committee has made technical, nonsubstantive stylistic changes to the measure for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.R. No. 34, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.R. No. 34, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair