Hawaii Child Welfare Services may have had no reason not to approve Yvonne and Paul Caitano as foster parents. But when did it find out that things had gone wrong?

The hearings can determine whether parents lose their children, but topics that could help avoid that are rarely or never discussed.

The surplus for fiscal year 2022 is double the previous year, and leaves Josh Green’s incoming administration with ample funding to pursue his initiatives.

A Civil Beat review found that parents almost never win on appeal, and that the appellate court finds procedural flaws in half the cases.

The Legislature changed the Grant-In-Aid process this year and that’s keeping money from getting to the organizations that need it.

Sen. Joy San Buenaventura is considering writing a bill that would likely reduce the number of children taken from their parents without a court order.

More than 80% of children taken into protective custody in Hawaii are removed from their families without a judge’s approval. That’s not how it works in many other jurisdictions.

Jan Yamane was deeply unpopular as the acting state auditor, according to a state investigative report, but she’s a hit with the Honolulu Ethics Commission.

It took more than six years, a lawsuit and two appeals to the Hawaii Supreme Court to force the AG’s office to release results of the investigation.

The principle of qualified immunity protects workers in their official actions. But as a recent Hawaii case shows, not always.