Pubdate: Fri, 1 Feb 2008
Source: Honolulu Star-Bulletin (HI)
Copyright: 2008 Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Contact:  http://www.starbulletin.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/196

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. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake