Native Hawaiian Families Systemic Disparities in Hawaii's Child Welfare System

Abstract

This study examined systemic and individual factors that contribute to the disproportionality of Native Hawaiian families in the child welfare system using data from the 2004-2005 Hawaii State Child Welfare Services (N = 1267). Native Hawaiians were found to be more likely to reenter the system and less likely to be re-united with their families even when the type of abuse was less serious. This distinction was identifiable in interaction terms in multivariate analysis. The paper concludes that the child welfare system in Hawaii needs to continue to explore methods to reduce these disparities.

Asian American children in the child welfare system.

“…Studies have found that Southeast Asians, such as Vietnamese and Cambodians, were more likely to be referred to CPS than Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino families (Finno-Velasquez et al, 2017;Ima & Hohm, 1991;Pelczarski & Kemp, 2006;Rhee et al, 2012). Godinet et al (2011) found that when compared with nonnative Hawaiians, native Hawaiians were more likely to reenter the CWS in Hawaii and less likely to be reunited with their families, even when the type of abuse was less serious than what other children in the study experienced. In their study of AA and NHPI CPS involvement in California, Finno-Velasquez et al (2017) found that the vast majority (81%) of the AANHPI children had foreign-born mothers, and by their fifth birthday, children of U.S.-born Hawaiian, Guamanian, or Samoan mothers had the highest rate (24%) of being reported to CPS.…”