Once again, the children of Hawaii are being short-changed. But this time it is potentially endangering them in their own homes.

As a result of state employee layoffs, the number of social workers in the West Hawaii Child Welfare Services Section has been nearly cut in half in the last two weeks. But the number of cases the remaining social workers handle and the distance traveled when dealing with those cases remains the same.

The West Hawaii office received notice in July that 17 staff members would lose their jobs, including nine social workers, one supervisor, five support staff and two clerical workers, according to a letter by Department of Human Services acting Social Services Division Administrator Amy Tsark, who was unavailable for comment.

The letter goes on to explain that the remaining 28 employees — three management positions, 11 social worker positions, 10 support staff and four clerical workers — would be adequate to handle the caseload that comes through West Hawaii, which averages about 7 percent of the child abuse and neglect cases in the state.

"It is reasonable and doable for an investigating social worker to handle 10 to 12 investigations per month and for a case management social worker to handle 18 to 20 case management cases," according to the letter. "(West Hawaii Child Welfare Services Section) can effectively and efficiently respond and provide services for the 16 new cases they average per month and the 105 ongoing cases with a total staffing of 28."

The West Hawaii office originally had 47 positions, five of which were vacant. Two of those vacant positions were also eliminated.

Statewide, the department has had to lay off 190 employees, said Toni Schwartz, DHS public information officer. The department was just doing what it was told to do, she added. The department's director, Lillian Koller, did not return several phone messages left over a two-day period.

However, in a statement prepared by Schwartz and approved by Koller, she said, "To balance the state budget, as required by law, we must reduce services and layoff hundreds of valuable employees. Such decisions are not easy, and the loss of staff positions is very painful for our employees, their families and our clients — especially during these uncertain times."

A former human service worker with the West Hawaii office, Dorie Knutson-Nichols, claims case workers can have anywhere from 10 to 30 ongoing cases and may have to drive from Waimea to Volcano on any given day.

Some social workers respond to reports of abuse and handle the investigations of those allegations. Depending upon the seriousness of the situation, a child may have to be removed from a home, requiring a social worker to relocate the child with another family member or to a foster home; the case may also go to family court.

Case managers work with families to develop plans for families and children. They manage services for families, make monthly visits, monitor plans to ensure that no problems arise and things are progressing, Knutson-Nichols said.

"My concern is with the few social workers left to respond to crisis intervention and working with the families, it's going to be difficult, if not impossible, to handle," she said.

Knutson-Nichols moved to Hawaii earlier this year specifically to work for Child Welfare Services. She was there for two months and then received a registered letter stating her job had been abolished. She was officially laid off Nov. 13.

"What frightens me is Child Welfare Services stresses child safety first, and I have a hard time understanding how these children will be safe if there are no voices for them," Knutson-Nichols said. "And they're one of our most vulnerable populations."

While child welfare workers are being laid off statewide, JoAnn Freed, executive director of the nonprofit Family Support Services of West Hawaii, questioned the percentages.

"It feels like (West Hawaii) took a particularly heavy hit," she said, adding that the state is cutting services and social worker positions at a time when there is the greatest need.

"Those layoffs are just starting now. We can only project what's going to happen in the future ... but there's not any question that there has been an increase in the number of children being referred to Child Welfare Services," Freed said. "There were prevention programs that would help families, but those got cut first, and now, cutting the case workers, there's not a safety net for the kids. To think we can do with less child welfare workers is very frustrating."

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