Bill Text: HI HR77 | 2022 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requesting The Office Of The Auditor To Conduct A Performance Audit Of The Child Welfare Services Branch Of The Department Of Human Services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-03-30 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Hashem, Holt, Ohno, Todd excused (4). [HR77 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2022-HR77-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	77
THIRTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2022
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING the office of the auditor to conduct A PERFORMANCE AUDIT OF THE CHILD WELFARE SERVICES BRANCH OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services has a responsibility to protect the well-being of the children of Hawaii, including children who are wards of the State and children who have allegedly been neglected or abused; and

 

     WHEREAS, in November 2021, two individuals who were resource givers with the Child Welfare Services Branch, as well as adoptive parents, were arrested and charged with child abuse and the murder of their six-year-old adopted daughter in Waimanalo, Oahu; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Child Welfare Services Branch failed to pass the United States Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families' periodic Child and Family Services Review to assess state performance in meeting certain safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes for children involved in the child welfare system during the last three reviews conducted, which were in 2003, 2009, and 2017; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Child Welfare Services Branch experiences difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff, and at the start of 2022 had eighty-seven vacant positions (a twenty-two-percent vacancy rate), forty-four of which were for social workers; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Office of the Auditor may be able to assist the Child Welfare Services Branch in evaluating improvements made since the 2017 federal review and in improving the recruitment and retention of staff; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2022, that the Office of the Auditor is requested to conduct a performance audit of the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the performance audit is requested to include:

 

     (1)  The policies, procedures, and processes of the Child Welfare Services Branch to protect the safety and well-being of children in their own homes and in out-of-home placements, including foster care, guardianship, and adoption; and

 

     (2)  The recruitment and retention of social workers and other staff at the Child Welfare Services Branch; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Office of the Auditor is requested to submit its performance audit, including any findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2023; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Auditor, Director of Human Services, and Administrator of the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services; Performance Audit