So, Where's Peter-Boy?

[alohabear]

It's about time someone asked about this child and GOD bless Dennis Arakaki for doing it. What the is wrong with the East Hawaii Child Welfare Office? All these years we have wondered and asked "So, where's Peter-Boy?" yet only now we're asking. If the system were run right CPS should have removed all the Kema children untill they got a satisfactory answer . Now a Puna girl recovers in a O'ahu hospital and answers are slow to come. How come the people at East Hawaii Child Welfare Office still can't do the right thing? Thank GOD the crime of murder has no time limit... Justice will be served for Peter and the other keiki.

[pzarquon]

Records could help fill gaps in Peter Boy case (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/04/ln/ln01p.html)
Mike Gordon, Honolulu Advertiser, Monday, April 4, 2005"Obviously, Peter Boy is dead," [Hawai'i County Prosecutor Jay] Kimura said. "We have to show a person, or persons, is responsible for causing that death." ... The Kemas, who have split up, were unavailable for comment for this story. Peter Kema Sr. is a handyman in Hilo, and his landlord said Kema did not want to talk. Jaylin Kema's location is not publicly known... Jaylin Kema received a restraining order against her husband through January 2008.Considering how badly things turned out for the couple, I wonder why the mother hasn't seized the opportunity to share a bit more detail about her husband's unusual job hunting trip in Honolulu? Unless, of course, the pair have collected enough on each other to make talking a bad idea all around.

[1stwahine]

Tonight, the question still remains. Tonight they show a picture of how Peter Boy would look like today. They say, his case will help how to deal with similiar cases in the the future. Child abuse is child abuse! :mad:

His grandmother is relieved that finally her pleas of something getting done...is getting done. His siblings reported they were abused by their parents, they said, Peter Boy got the worse of it.

The State screwed up big time on this...it cost Peter Boy's life!

I would assume that with the evidence that they have on his parents on the abuse they afflicted on him since birth, put their okole's in prison. Still, that is much too small a price to pay for abusing a child, and for a child's life. :mad:



Auntie Lynn

[pzarquon]

'Is anybody listening?' (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/01/ln/ln01p.html)
Mike Gordon, Honolulu Advertiser, Sunday, May 1, 2005
Twice in the 15 months before the state closed its case on Peter Boy Kema in October 1995, social workers were warned that it was a potentially dangerous decision. Three years later, state officials conceded that the child might be dead. Those revelations are contained in confidential documents made public yesterday for the first time by the state Department of Human Services...

Neither Peter nor Jaylin Kema could be reached for comment on the latest developments in the case. Their former landlord, who is also Jaylin Kema's church pastor, said yesterday that they have moved and she has not seen her in months. Jaylin Kema's two older children are living with their birth father on the Mainland. Her youngest child was adopted by the Acols.

[BABYGIRL]

I am glad to know people have not forgotten about Peter Boy Kema. Certainly in the last 8 years somebody has to know something, no! Are they not asking the right questions? It breaks my heart to see years go by without answers.
I hope this new investigation uncovers something, but I am disgusted at shild welfare agencies who place innocent children back with parents who are unstable and abusive. SOMEBODY NEEDS TO DO SOMETHING PLEASE!!! :confused:

[1stwahine]

Babygirl, beautiful and precious screen name! Yes, something needs to be done. Unfortunately, many children get undetected. For the ones that do go into the "system"...it's not a guarantee of safty either.

My sister and her husband are Foster Parents of Drug and Sexual Abuse Infants and Children. Over the years, our whole family has been a part of each child and condsider them as family. Those who have grown up, come back and visit often, never forgetting the love, compassion, safe environment in which they had with my sister, my brother and our OHANA.

We can only continue to pray and ask for God's protection for them. We must also make sure that our Politicians do their jobs, putting priorities into place. If they don't...get them out next election. Ah, if only but a dream!

[Miulang]

Peter Boy is probably dead because of neglect, both from his parents and the State. Peter Boy, unfortunately, is not the only one who has slipped through the cracks. I don't understand why it takes cases like this one to finally make people stop and think about the number of damaged children---the next generation--- who are slipping through the cracks because of inept parenting and an even more inept State system that's supposed to be protecting the children. Peter Boy started out with a handicap even before he was born---his mother had addictions. Auntie Lynn's sister has been taking care of some kids like Peter Boy, and people like her should be awarded the Congressional Award for Patience and Humanity because it's tough enough raising normal kids, nevermind kids who had addicted parents who passed it on to their kids.

Miulang

[pzarquon]

Peter Boy files to be released May 31 (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/20/ln/ln21p.html)
In 11 days, the state plans to release thousands of pages of confidential files about missing child-abuse victim Peter Boy Kema, a decision that will give the public unprecedented access to one of Hawai'i's most perplexing child welfare cases... The files will be released on the Internet, said Derick Dahilig, department spokesman. Workers have been busy redacting the names of Peter Boy's siblings, foster parents, some court-appointed officials and all Human Services employees, past and present, he said.

[Glen Miyashiro]

Hold on. Redacting the names of Peter Boy's other family members, OK. But why in the world are they redacting the names of the state social workers and court officials? Aren't these people carrying out their official duties? What sort of expectation of privacy is there for someone doing his job? :confused:

[Miulang]

Maybe because no one in government wants to assume responsibility for the screwups in this case? I think it's called "protecting one's own." :mad:

Miulang

[alohabear]

Hold on. Redacting the names of Peter Boy's other family members, OK. But why in the world are they redacting the names of the state social workers and court officials? Aren't these people carrying out their official duties? What sort of expectation of privacy is there for someone doing his job? :confused:



To say it in simple terms: Da Union(HGEA)

[pzarquon]

The documents have been released (http://www.hawaii.gov/dhs/newrules_protect_children.html).

Peter Boy Kema documents made public (http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=3497)
Just after midnight, the state Department of Human Services made public about 2,000 pages of documents on what is probably Hawaii's most publicized missing child case -- the disappearance of "Peter Boy" Kema, Jr. in 1997. While the search for Peter Boy has been very public, the state even printed and distributed bumper stickers with his image on it, documents in his case history have been sealed until today.

[scrivener]

Maybe because no one in government wants to assume responsibility for the screwups in this case? I think it's called "protecting one's own.

In this case, I say the real fault goes not to the "government" but to the people--you (well, not YOU, Miulang, because you don't live here) and me. Our social workers would not be so overworked if social workers in this state were paid what they deserve, because more people would enter the field, competition for jobs would be up, and the most qualified social workers would be put in place. Far, far fewer kids would slip through cracks if we, the state of Hawaii, took them seriously enough to do something about them besides print bumper-stickers.

If we told our elected officials that we never, ever want to see this happen again and that we expected them to find a way to fund social welfare at all levels, and then followed through with our votes, we'd at least take steps toward keeping this kind of thing from happening. The problem is that social programs take a long time to bear fruit (nobody wants to hear about the economic gains our state makes when children are removed from the poverty-cycle) and our elected public servants work on two- and four-year cycles. It's one thing for Dennis Arakaki to take up social causes: he represents Kalihi. [edit: I had a sentence here naming specific other representatives and how they should speak up, but in all honesty, I was writing in ignorance--I have no idea who's doing what in Human Services except to check up on Arakaki, my own district's representative, on occasion]

I don't take drugs or steal property. I believe this is because (a) I grew up in a family with a strong work ethic and a strong sense of right and wrong and (b) I was educated. Social workers help kids and families who have problems in these areas to move toward the same (or similar) positive worldviews. But they need time, and they don't get enough of it when they're overloaded.

Pay the social workers.

[Miulang]

We have the same kinds of issues with our DSHS people here, too. Lots of kids get neglected and abused while supposedly under the protection of the State. We've had our scandals up here, too. In fact the head of DSHS just resigned recently over another set of allegations.

Part of the problem with the status quo is the legal system wanting to keep kids with their biological parents as much as possible, even though it can be proven that the kids have been abused and would probably continue to be abused if returned to their custody. I would rather have a kid be put in a stable foster home than returned to an abusive biological parent. Being a foster parent takes a lot of skill and patience, and foster parents should be supported better than they are (financially and emotionally) today.

Parents who abuse or neglect their children should not be allowed to have more kids and they most definitely should not have the kids they did have returned to them.

Miulang

[jdub]

Unfortunately, not even Big Island police believe that the formerly confidential documents will contribute significantly to the missing person case. Perhaps the Cold Case Unit with the Atty Gen's Office can build a case. Details of abuse released today are grisly and barbaric. Ugh.

[lorider]

I don't understand. Really. Even without the body of Peter Boy, why are the parents not in jail just on the basis of the abuse reported by the other children? Help me understand this.

[lavagal]

None of us understand. Least of all of us, I would wager, is Child & Family Services Director Lillian Koller (sp?);

Some social worker let this go and how far back was it? Will any paperwork show where the ball was dropped?

Now does everyone who feels burdened by their children look at this case and figure they could get away with snuffing an inconvenient life?

Frankly, I never knew what being a parent was all about until I became one. I was overwhelmed by how huge my love became, how my capacity for patience grew. So I really cannot relate to anyone who kills their child. I cannot.

[shaveice]

i'm not so sure that money is the key factor regarding why things got screwed up.

take a look at this article:
http://www.kgmb.com/kgmb/display.cfm?storyID=4953

in part the article reads, "In 1994 she (the foster mother) wrote authorities begging them to focus on Peter Boy to find those who hurt him.

"I was told bluntly, he's not your child," Chesebro said. "Mind my own business. It doesn't help Peter Boy being a nuisance."

regardless of the reasons why things got screwed up (overworked social workers, stupid policies, etc), the bottom line is that some innocent kid got royally screwed over by a system that did not protect him. if it were a matter of a parent losing it once, it'd be easier to understand but this s$*t went on for years. there's no excuse for that. i can't imagine the kind of hell that little boy lived through. a public flogging and then execution by hanging would be too good for those bastards who tortured that little kid.

[BABYGIRL]

Thank you Auntie Lynn. God bless you and your family for taking care of those children, and for showing them love. I know you don't do things like that for praise but you deserve it. :)
There is not much more I can say about what's going on that hasn't already been said. I feel the same as everyone else, I feel sick in my soul for what has happen to that little boy. All I can do know is pray for Peter Boy and hope his parents pay for whatever they did to him and with him. :mad:

[outrgdinca]

What's going on there is outrageous!
The child welfare department and the family court judges should be charged as well as the parents. There is no doubt of what the parents have done, yet they walk free everyday. And the judges and social workers go home everyday. When does Peter get to come home??
This boy needs peace and it is going to take a national/world spotlight to get Hawaiian officials to do the right thing.
i cannot even imagine the horrors this baby had to face alone.
Everyone envolved needs to be harder pressed to get the answers that are so long overdue and so badly needed.
A resolution needs to be demanded!

[scrivener]

i'm not so sure that money is the key factor regarding why things got screwed up. ... in part the article reads, "In 1994 she (the foster mother) wrote authorities begging them to focus on Peter Boy to find those who hurt him.

"I was told bluntly, he's not your child," Chesebro said. "Mind my own business. It doesn't help Peter Boy being a nuisance."

regardless of the reasons why things got screwed up (overworked social workers, stupid policies, etc), the bottom line is that some innocent kid got royally screwed over by a system that did not protect him.

I stick to my claim that if we consider what's at stake (children's lives) as being very important, we need to pay social workers according to that importance. When someone says, "I'm a social worker," people respond with "That's very noble; that's such a giving profession." Yet when someone says, "I'm a doctor," the response is completely different. We're impressed because we know that medical schools (mostly) accept the best and brightest; we know that competition just to get into med school is fierce. And when doctors screw up, we don't accept excuses.

This is the kind of status social workers should have. Stuff like Peter-Boy's case would be far, far less likely to happen.

[big eyes]

Aloha Everyone, I Am A Family Member Of Peter Boy And You Are So Right About Peter Boy Needing To Come Home, Our Whole Family Is Frustrated With This Whole Thing, But We Will Not Give Up. For The Love Of The Family, Peter Boys Grandparents, And Siblings I Hope And Pray Everynight That Peter Sr. Or Jaylin Say Something And Put Peter Boy To Rest, Put All Our Family To Rest. Don't Let This Go On Much Longer. I Know We Can't Do Much On Our End except Pray, But Peter Needs To Come Home Already :(

[shaveice]

you wrote: This is the kind of status social workers should have. Stuff like Peter-Boy's case would be far, far less likely to happen.

..............

maybe so, but i believe i was making another point: regardless of the inequities of the system, etc., the system failed to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. people in the social work system failed to do their job. whatever checks and balances exist failed to work. the result is that an innocent child endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of irresponsible parents and has probably died. we can debate all we want to about how social workers should be paid more and have greater status but i don't see that as an excuse for the way the system failed to protect an innocent child. the kind of change you're hoping for is fine but i don't think it'll happen anytime soon. regardless, in the meantime we need to do all that we can to make sure that another tragedy like this doesn't happen again.

i don't think we disagree much and we both hope that something like this doesn't happen again. while your focus (perhaps correctly) is on how to improve the sytem, my focus is on (1) the outrage i feel about how the current system failed to protect peter and (2) the outrage at how no one seems to be held accountable for this unbelievable tragedy.

[Miulang]

Well, if you think logically about root causes for situations like Peter-Boy's case, then one big root cause is drug and alcohol abuse. If his parents were not addicts, and if his father had been hauled in by the courts and thrown in jail until he completed anger management courses, then maybe Peter Boy would not have been so abused.

The case load of the social workers also needs to be reviewed. It is not humanly possible for anyone to try to keep tabs on 100-200 different cases constantly. With that kind of minimal oversite, someone is bound to slip through the cracks. Then you have to look at the court system which allows parents to reclaim their kids even after there has been documented evidence of abuse. Why do we as a society place more importance on an intact dysfunctional family than we do the safety of the family members, especially the smallest and weakest who have no recourse but to stay and be abused or run away and be treated as criminals for running away from the abuse?

This is not a problem unique to Hawai'i. It's made a little more complicated by the hanai system, which has been around since the early times of the kanaka maoli. The State doesn't want to interfere with that system because in many cases, it does prove to be successful. But how do you guarantee that the hanai family will be a good one for the child without some sort of investigation by the State?

Miulang

[1stwahine]

Charlie is my nephew. He was a foster child and then my sister and brother-inlaw adopted him. They had him since he was an infant. They knew what they were getting in to. Psychiatric care, social workers, physicians, etc. They knew. Our Ohana knew too.

Charlie is now fourteen years old. Like other growing teenagers he can not be with his parents 24/7. Charlie is a drug baby. Charlie met and tried drugs. Charlie was in the system from birth, taken away from drug addict parents...no one can say what drove Charlie to become like his birth parents.

We can talk until we are blue in the faces about what can be done, what should be done and what must be done...fact is, there are other Peter Boys and Charlies out there that needs more than any system can give. Each and every case is different and yes, I think the amount of cases that social workers have to handle is way to much. It takes special people to be social workers. I applaud them all.

Our Ohana will not give up on Charlie, especially me. He is not normal the experts say....he has mental illness. They can take my fist and shove it. There is hope for Charlie and all the other "drug and abused babies," out there.

Auntie Lynn aka Auntie Pupule

[Miulang]

Another little keiki (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050726/NEWS06/507260329) was abused and killed by her father this past week, and the State was notified a week before the final assault that the abuse was occurring.

According to Derick Dahilig, DHS spokesman, all attempts were made to try to track the child down, but the searches they did didn't reveal any names.

The person who made the anonymous call (the victim's mother's cousin) claims that the information the state says could have helped narrow down the places to search (i.e., there was no mention made that the child was from a military family) was never asked of her.

Instead of just lamenting over the death of Talia, maybe the DHS should very carefully review the forms their intake people use to make sure that any questions that were not asked (i.e., "is this a military family?" or "do you have a phone number for the family?") are put on those forms so DHS has all the information they might need to conduct their investigation. Give the intake workers more training on how to verify the spelling of names and phone numbers and to certainly ask more questions.

Why they automatically assume that an abused child must be in a foster care situation or using some form of State assistance is beyond me. Child abuse can happen in the best of families, too.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Instead of just lamenting over the death of Talia, maybe the DHS should very carefully review the forms their intake people use to make sure that any questions that were not asked (i.e., "is this a military family?" or "do you have a phone number for the family?") are put on those forms so DHS has all the information they might need to conduct their investigation. Give the intake workers more training on how to verify the spelling of names and phone numbers and to certainly ask more questions.

Why they automatically assume that an abused child must be in a foster care situation or using some form of State assistance is beyond me. Child abuse can happen in the best of families, too.

Miulang
This story (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050727/NEWS01/507270374/1001) just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Now we have lawyers representing both the Army and Talia's stepmother arguing over who said and did what. Enough already, Talia is being victimized once again by adults who want to pin the blame on someone else. Everybody should just admit that while they weren't completely to blame, everyone, from the Army to DHS failed this little girl and should work to make the kinds of changes needed to keep this from happening again.

Miulang

[BABYGIRL]

You're right Muilang they should quit trying to pin the blame on eachother they are both responsible for the death of that precious little girl, these people are sick. What reason do they have for beating that girl twice a day the way they had been. It's sick and just like with Peter Boy it could have been prevented because there was reports of abuse and they could have placed both of the children in that house anywhere away from those abusive people while they investigated the situation.

[MadAzza]

Where's Peter-Boy? He's dead, his body long gone, mostly. Talia's dead, another kid who will never grow up and have a first kiss, or a school dance, or the pride in her parents' eyes when she does well in school, or a boy or a man who loves her. Another little kid who never had a chance. How many of them are out there, in the grocery store with us? At the pharmacy? In the next car at the gas station? Who are they? How do we know them?

[kimo55]

...another kid who will never grow up and have a first kiss, or a school dance, or the pride in her parents' eyes when she does well in school, or a boy or a man...


'da hell?

hey madza; you hit yer head when ya took that spill or wot?!

[MadAzza]

'da hell?

hey madza; you hit yer head when ya took that spill or wot?!

I just think it's sad. I always think about this stuff when a child is tortured to death by the people who are supposed to care for her/him. So excuse the heck outta me, Mister Heartless!

[kimo55]

go ta heaven and make a U turn!. same to ya.


so; back ot.

"Where's Peter-Boy"
spotted him the other day eating at burger king with elvis.

[MadAzza]

go ta heaven and make a U turn!. same to ya.


so; back ot.

"Where's Peter-Boy"
spotted him the other day eating at burger king with elvis.

with a side order of Kimo's Conscience.

[kimo55]

my shrink, (if i had one) would tellya I am unconscience.

[Miulang]

Grrr...Talia's father (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050730/NEWS01/507300336/1001) says he kept hitting his daughter with his Levi's belt because she was slow to learn. Her last infraction? Spitting toothpaste all over the bathroom sink!

Why is it that we require a license to get married or drive a car, but no license or training to become parents? All children are our future and should be protected.

I wish Talia's father could receive a sentence more harsh than life imprisonment. There's no excuse for the abuse that poor keiki had to suffer. Her stepmom was just as responsible because she knew what was going on and did nothing to prevent the abuse.

Miulang

[kimo55]

>Why is it that we require a license to get married or drive a car, but no license or training to become parents?



exactly!

>I wish Talia's father could receive a sentence more harsh than life imprisonment.



well, if he were tossed in the hoosegow, he would get his comeuppance, methinks...

[Miulang]

well, if he were tossed in the hoosegow, he would get his comeuppance, methinks...
Heh. True enough. Pedophiles and child killers do have a hard time in the slammer. Whoever said incarcerated people don't have a sense of justice was wrooooong.

Miulang