Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, Inc. volunteers and paid staff have put out the call for more people willing to be foster parents. The combination of more Kaua‘i children needing emergency services, a dual-use in many foster homes with adults taking care
Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, Inc. volunteers and paid staff have put out the call for more people willing to be foster parents.
The combination of more Kaua‘i children needing emergency services, a dual-use in many foster homes with adults taking care of foster children as well as relatives with special needs, and the chronic shortage of social-services professionals caused agency officials to ask for help spreading the word that more foster parents are needed immediately, said Carol Suzawa, immediate past president of the Hale ‘Opio board of directors.
“The growing number of youngsters needing emergency-shelter and foster-homes services continues to exceed our capacity,” Suzawa said.
“In the past year, there has been a 20 percent increase in the number of youngsters on Kaua‘i in need of emergency shelter, but there just isn’t enough of this kind of shelter available on the island,” she lamented.
“And of the 88 homes licensed on Kaua‘i for foster care and serving 120 youngsters, 62 of these homes are providing alternative living arrangements to members of their ‘ohana (a niece or nephew, a cousin, etc.),” she continued.
“Hale ‘Opio is in need of many more families willing to open their homes to children. Being a professional parent can be a wonderful career, helping children in need of a caring adult, supervision and protection,” said Suzawa, asking the audience of around 100 people at the agency’s annual meeting at the Kaua‘i Marriott Resort & Beach Club in Lihu‘e to spread the word about the shortage of foster parents that is impacting Hale ‘Opio and other entities working with the island’s youngsters.
Every day, many at-risk children are removed from their homes, for days, weeks and sometimes even years.
The reasons for the removal can be due to drug abuse, family violence or mental illness. But places for these children to be helped and be safe are limited, Suzawa continued.
For 28 years, Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, Inc. has helped many of these youngsters.
“Hale Opio has had a productive year, helping 325 youngsters (ages 2 to 19) through a variety of program services offered. This number does not include the siblings and families who have also been provided services,” said Suzawa, delivering what may have been her last president’s report.
Of the 325 young people receiving Hale ‘Opio services, 38 received help seven days a week for the entire year, she said.
“But it has not always been easy, and there are always challenges ahead,” she said.
“An on-going challenge we continue to face is that the health and human services labor force is not large enough, stable enough, experienced enough, trained enough, paid enough, supervised enough, equipped enough, or valued enough to do the job many would like to do,” she said.
“I don’t know how we can solve this problem, but I do know we can’t afford to ignore it. We know we really do care about protecting vulnerable and abused kids, but little has been done to increase the public investment that is necessary to attract the growing need for health-service workers, for their preparation, and for their competence,” she said.
“Wages certainly aren’t an attraction,” with low pay leading to high staff turnover and a personnel shortage as the field’s most talented accept higher-paying jobs elsewhere, she noted.
“Nevertheless,” she said, “there is still room for hope and optimism, because each of these challenges is reversible. We nonprofits are unique in that we have some advantages. We complement, but don’t substitute for, government.
“We are a group with a strong commitment, always seeking excellence, a group with a wide range of knowledge, a group with the ability to innovate, leverage private resources and weather elections,” she added.
“Hale ‘Opio’s successes are due in part to each board member, each employee, each foster parent and every guest here tonight, who together have provided encouragement and support month after month, year after year, while giving us the opportunity to embrace the children and youth entrusted to our care,” Suzawa said.
Also at the meeting, Mark Hubbard of Lihu‘e was elected president of the board of directors of Hale ‘Opio Kaua‘i, Inc., a nonprofit agency whose volunteers and staff work with at-risk Kaua‘i children.
Myles Shibata is vice president, Thomas Lodico is secretary, and Suzawa is treasurer. New board members are Laura Cushnie and Russ Talvi.
Continuing board members are Janet Mayfield, Nancy Budd, Carol Furtado, Phyllis Kunimura, Shirley Akita, Mattie Yoshioka, Avery Youn, Hartwell H.K. Blake and Robert H. Rask.
Blake was honored for his 20 years on the board, and Rask for his 18 years. Suzawa has served for 10 years, the last five as president. Mary Lou Barela is executive director.
