LEGISLATORS TAKE WRONG PATH AFTER CHILD'S DEATH

The Issue

Several State Legislators Vowed to Tighten the Clamps on Parents Who
Use Drugs Because of the Death of a 2-Year-Old Child.

The adage that bad facts make bad law is being demonstrated in state
legislation premised on the notion that the drug problems of a Makiki
woman resulted in the tragic death of her 2-year-old son. Changes in
government response to abusive or neglectful parental care might be
needed but not because of an incident that is being incorrectly construed.

Rep. Josh Green, chairman of the House Health and Human Services
committees, suggested in a two-hour hearing that prompt response to a
Jan. 11 allegation to the Department of Human Services that Nancy
Chanco had used crystal methamphetamine might have prevented the
death of her son Cyrus Belt six days later. In fact, Chanco's past
drug abuse was not directly related to her son's death.

Chanco had left her home on Jan. 17 to keep appointments in Iwilei
and Ala Moana, leaving her child under the supervision of her father.
According to the state agency, her father allowed a "neighbor to take
the child for a walk, precipitating the freeway overpass incident
resulting in the child's death," a scenario her father denies.
Neighbor Matthew M. Higa, 23, has been charged with second-degree
murder in the toddler's death.

The Department of Human Services might have unintentionally
encouraged public blame of the mother by releasing a 180-page history
of its Child Protective Services' intervention in her past drug abuse
and care of Cyrus and his two older siblings. Chanco denied using
drugs recently and offered to take a drug test to prove it.

In the hearing, Amy Tsark, the department's child welfare
administrator, said the agency already has drug treatments and
follow-up visits in situations of parental abuse or neglect. It would
be a shame if the department's unusual release of personal
information about the Chanco case hampers those efforts.