| From the HSLDA E-lert Service: |
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| Date: From: Subject: | 1/31/2008 3:31:39 PM Home School Legal Defense Association Hawaii--Calls Needed to Stop Home Visits of Innocent Families! |
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====================================================================== From the HSLDA E-lert Service... ====================================================================== January 31, 2008 Hawaii--Calls Needed to Stop Home Visits of Innocent Families! Dear HSLDA Members and Friends: Senate Bill 3056 was recently introduced to spend up to $1 million on a pilot project to conduct home visits of innocent families. This bill requires "well child" follow-up visits in cases where families have been investigated for abuse or neglect but no evidence was found of any abuse or neglect. As an organization, HSLDA has always been opposed to the abuse or neglect of children. However, S.B. 3056 would create an additional intrusion into the private homes and lives of innocent families who have already been investigated and determined not to have abused or neglected their children. The stated purpose of this pilot project is to see if these follow-up visits will decrease the possibility of additional reports of abuse or neglect involving the same children and families. However, only families who have had an investigation by Child Protective Services and the report has been determined to be false will be included in this pilot project. Senate Bill 3056 will be heard in the Human Services and Public Housing Committee on February 5, so please call now. ACTION REQUESTED: Please contact the Committee members listed below and respectfully give them this message in your own words: "Please oppose Senate Bill 3056. It is a waste of taxpayer dollars to conduct follow-up visits of families who have already been investigated and have not abused or neglected their children. Current regulations already require Child Protective Services to follow up if there is any evidence a child may be threatened or harmed in the future. Instead of following up on innocent families, a law should be passed to penalize individuals who make false and malicious reports of child abuse against innocent families." Do not identify yourself as a homeschooler; instead you can identify yourself as a concerned citizen and taxpayer. Human Services and Public Housing Committee Members Senator Suzanne Chun Oakland, Chairman Phone: 808-586-6130 Email: senchunoakland@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Les Ihara, Jr., Vice Chair Phone: 808-586-6250 Email: senihara@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Gary L. Hooser Phone: 808-586-6030 Email: senhooser@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Norman Sakamoto Phone: 808-586-8585 Email: sensakamoto@Capitol.hawaii.gov Senator Fred Hemmings Phone: 808-587-8388 Email: senhemmings@Capitol.hawaii.gov BACKGROUND: Nearly half of all reports made to social services are found to be intentionally false or unsubstantiated. Senate Bill 3056 would require caseworkers to conduct follow-up visits in situations where a family has already been investigated for a report of abuse or neglect and the report has been found to be either false or unsubstantiated. This means that families who have been found to be innocent will be subject to a second, follow-up investigation! Under current regulations, the Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services, investigates allegations of abuse or neglect of children. The Department must make a clear decision whether abuse, neglect or exploitation did or will occur within 60 days of the date of the report. See Hawaii Administrative Rules sec. 17-920.1-16. When the Department does not confirm (or unsubstantiates a report of) abuse, neglect, or exploitation, the Department must make a clear decision of whether the child may be threatened or harmed in the future due to problems in the family. If the Department finds the child may be threatened they must 1) refer the family to an outside agency for needed counseling or therapy; 2) help the parents voluntarily agree to accept protective case management services from the Department or other agency; or 3) petition the family court in order that protective case management service may be given by the department or other agency. According to current regulations already in place, only when the Department finds no evidence of an unsafe home or family problems can protective services be terminated. S.B. 3056 is a waste of money when follow-up services are already required if there is any evidence of future harm in investigations that have determined there was no abuse or neglect. Families in Hawaii would be much better served if this pilot project was either defeated or amended to focus on follow-up investigations of those reports where abuse or neglect was confirmed. We need your help! If you are not yet a member of HSLDA and would like to help us fight for greater homeschool freedom and parental rights in Hawaii please visit http://www.hslda.org/join/apply.asp . Thank you for your part in fighting for freedom in Hawaii. Sincerely, Thomas Schmidt HSLDA Staff Attorney ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -> Will your friends stand by you in trouble? They will if you're an HSLDA member and your homeschool is threatened. HSLDA is ready to stand by your side along with 80,000 other homeschool families. More reasons to join HSLDA... http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=1105 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ====================================================================== The HSLDA E-lert Service is a service of: Home School Legal Defense Association P.O. 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Thank you for your cooperation. ====================================================================== | |
