The state Department of Human Services has been ordered not to release records related to a 2000 child abuse case involving a girl who was found malnourished in January.

The department director, Lillian B. Koller, said last week in an e-mailed statement to The Advertiser that the records would be released this week. However, Koller said yesterday she would not be releasing the documents requested by The Advertiser. She declined to say who reversed her decision or why the records would be withheld.

Koller said she could not speak about the release of the documents from the 2000 case until after a judge hears testimony this morning on a motion by defense attorneys to seal the court files from the current case.

The case involves a 12-year-old girl who is reportedly suffering brain damage and unable to speak as a result of lack of food. The girl was found in her parent's apartment earlier this year and placed in state custody.

The girl had been taken from her parents on Jan. 23, 2000, when she was 5. A neighbor reported hearing screams like an animal from the family's apartment and that the girl was locked in a room for 12 hours a day without food, water and bathroom access.

The girl was returned to her parents within 72 hours of being taken by the state.

The parents — Denise M. and Melvin Wright Jr. — pleaded no contest to second-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, were granted probation and ordered to attend parenting classes.

The case against them was dropped after they successfully completed the parenting classes and abided by conditions similar to probation for one year.

When asked early last month by The Advertiser to release the records in the 2000 case, Koller declined. But then last week she agreed to do so, saying the records could be released because "the department changed its confidentiality rules to release CWS records to the public when it is helpful to share information for better protection of children."

Koller announced her decision to release the documents in a written reply to Advertiser questions Friday.

She said, "The Department of Human Services will be releasing all Child Welfare Services records, including police reports, signed statements from the responding police and witnesses, medical records and photographs of the child's bedroom, the lock on the door and the child herself at that time, pertaining to the Wright case back in 2000."

On Jan. 7, the girl was again found to be malnourished when one of the parents called emergency medical personnel to their Kina'u Street apartment and said the daughter would not eat.

The child was found in the apartment, weighing only 50 pounds. A typical 12-year-old girl weighs 80 to 85 pounds.

The girl, who is now in state custody with a foster family, suffered brain damage and can barely speak because of the effects of malnutrition, according to law enforcement sources who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak.

The girl's parents were indicted July 3 on charges of attempted second-degree murder. They pleaded not guilty, and a trial is set for Sept. 10.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com and Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.