Grandmother of missing Waimanalo girl wanted ‘a chance’

The grandmother of missing 6-year-old Waimanalo girl Isabella Kalua said her disappearance has hit her especially hard because the child was once placed in her care.

Barbara Kumai took in her biological granddaughter, whose birth name was Ariel Sellers, and her older sister, now 12, in 2017 when they were 2 and 8 and shortly after losing her own son to cancer.

Kumai’s daughter, Melanie Joseph, and the father of the girls, Adam Sellers, were addicted to drugs at the time, became homeless and could not keep them.

Four of Joseph’s five children eventually were placed by state Department of Human Services child welfare officials in the home of her adoptive parents, Isaac K. “Sonny” Kalua III and his wife, Lehua.

Isabella was last seen asleep in her room at the Kaluas’ Puha Street home in Waimanalo at about 9 p.m. Sept. 12, according to Honolulu police.

The Kaluas have said they think the child may have been abducted or simply wandered off, according to family spokesman William Harrison, who has said police were immediately called at 6 a.m. Sept. 13 when the couple awoke to find her gone. They also reportedly allowed police to search the house.

A massive search involving police, the FBI and other government agencies, and community volunteers failed to turn up any sign of Isabella. The community has been holding rallies across Oahu in hopes she will be found and that someone with knowledge of her whereabouts will speak up.

DHS Child Welfare Serv­ices allowed Kumai to keep her two grandchildren until late 2018, when her boyfriend got into a serious motorcycle accident.

“The social worker said she didn’t want me to get overwhelmed,” the 51-year-old said. “Every time she came to visit, I had just come home from the hospital and I was tired.”

Then one evening, Kumai said, the social worker told her to “pack up the girls.” At 7:30 the next morning, the social worker arrived and took them a block away to the Kaluas’ house.

“She should have given me a chance,” Kumai said. “I wanted to try. You don’t know how many times I called her and left messages. I felt something wasn’t right.”

Kumai said she thought the decision to move the children may have been because of her own past.

“I made the same mistakes,” she said, explaining that her own drug use led to her children being removed by state child welfare officials. “That was so many years ago. I was trying to tell (the social worker) that people change. I changed a lot.”

Six months after Isabella and her sister were placed with the Kaluas, Kumai said the same social worker returned to her house with the children.

Kumai said she was told that Lehua Kalua was under investigation and was asked, “If found guilty, if I would take them back. I said, ‘Yeah.’ Then suddenly, boom! The investigation is over with and everything is OK. That was the end of my visits.”

Kumai shared no firsthand knowledge of abuse but said, “That’s my granddaughter we’re talking about. It makes me angry. I want to go over and say something, but I can’t. I shouldn’t. If they couldn’t handle them, they should stop making up stories. If they kept everything cordial, we could have helped out too.”

The state Department of Human Services said it could not speak to the specifics of any case due to confidentiality concerns.

Police removed three of Isabella’s sisters from the Kalua home Sept. 13.

CWS said if a child is subject to imminent harm, law enforcement is authorized to remove a child from the custody of the family. “Following law enforcement removal of a child, only then may CWS assume temporary foster custody until it is determined that the child can or cannot be safely returned to the care of the child’s family,” the agency said.

“If there is family that is willing and eligible to be a resource caregiver, that is the preference, when placing a child outside of the child’s family home.”

Family and friends question why the Kaluas were allowed to adopt Isabella. DHS says with adoptions, a child’s guardian ad litem and Family Court must agree, and an extensive background check on adult family members in the home is done.

Since Family Court hearings and records are closed to the public, it is unknown whether CWS has requested permanent removal of Isabella’s siblings or whether an abuse case was ever opened concerning the Kaluas.

Taryn Napoleon, Joseph’s cousin, said Isabella’s paternal grandmother, a licensed clinical social worker, wants to provide a home for her grandchildren who were removed from the Kalua home.

“She’s reached out to Child Welfare to get her grandbabies,” she said. “She was never notified they were taken into custody. She never had the opportunity to get them. For a 30-year veteran in the human services field, it’s kind of sad. She should have had the opportunity.”

Meanwhile, relatives and volunteers have continued searching for Isabella. The community has been holding rallies across Oahu in hopes the child will be found and that someone with knowledge of her whereabouts will speak up.

“She didn’t just disappear,” Napoleon said.

“I’m hoping something will surface,” Kumai said. “Someone will crack and say something. I’m sure it haunts them if they did something to her. They got to worry every day if they get caught, I’m hoping, if they have any conscience.”

The Honolulu Police Department said in an email, “The investigation into young Isabella Kalua’s disappearance is ongoing, and HPD personnel are continuing to interview witnesses and process evidence.”

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Have you seen Isabella Kalua?

The 6-year-old from Waimanalo was reported missing on Sept. 13.

>> Description: Also known as Ariel Sellers, she is 3-feet, 3-inches tall, weighs about 46 pounds, has brown hair and brown eyes and was likely wearing a black hoodie, black leggings, colorful socks and Nike slides.

>> Contact: HPD or Crimestoppers at 808-961-8300.