Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 7, 1 July 2005 — Fostering ʻOhana [ARTICLE]

Fostering ʻOhana

A federally funded partnership aims to help plaee Native Hawaiian foster kids in Hawaiian homes

By Sterling Kini Wong More than half of the 2,700 ehildren in the state's foster system are of Native Hawaiian descent, according to Department of Human Services statistics. But about

40 percent of the time, those kids are placed in the care of non-Hawaiian families. "Foster kids are already going through so mueh trauma, and putting them in a home with a new culture and lifestyle adds more chaos to their lives," said Amanda Masuyama, coordinator of a

federally funded program called Kōkua 'Ohana, whieh aims to increase the number of Hawaiian foster kids who are placed with Hawaiian families. "I'm not saying there is anything wrong with non-Hawaiian foster families, because they do a terrific job and we need them. But it's important for Hawaiian ehildren to be able to hold on to their rich cultural heritage." To help address this disparity, the federal Administration for Native Americans (ANA) has provided Kōkua 'Ohana with a $7 15,536 grant to recruit, train and support 144 new Hawaiian

foster parents. Jan Hanohano Dill - president of Partners in Development, the socialservice agency that administers Kōkua 'Ohana - said that one of the partnership's goals is to develop a support network for Hawaiian foster families through loeal churches and communityservice organizations, like Alu Eike and Hawaiian civic clubs. Dill also said that the agency wants to connect eaeh foster family with up to four other families to create a large 'ohana that ean help See FOSTER CARE on page 4