Last fall, the devastating disappearance of 6-year-old Isabella Kalua from the Waimanalo home of her adoptive parents shocked the state.

The allegations that emerged horrified Hawaii residents and triggered a months-long search for her body, which still hasn’t been found. Her adoptive parents, Isaac and Lehua Kalua, have been charged with second- degree murder. Whenever this kind of tragedy occurs, we grieve. And then we ask, “How can we prevent this from happening again?”

While shortcomings in Hawaii’s child welfare system are nothing new, this horrific case drew attention to the lack of resources and the frayed connections in our safety network in a profound way. The COVID-19 pandemic already had an outsize effect on children and youth, further stressing the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Child Welfare Services (CWS), the Department of Education, and family-serving community-based organizations (CBOs) statewide.

So where do we go from here?

First, the state must begin with more financial support for CBOs, or, at the very least, fund their contracts at the actual cost to execute the programs and services determined in their contracts.

Secondly, CBOs and the state must work together to determine where the core infrastructure is failing. We are already working to do just that.

Our keiki were never meant to be the sole responsibility of the government. Traditionally, our kupuna had a child welfare system that involved kauhale, ohana, and hanai.

As representatives of our organizations, we are members of Na Kama a Haloa, a network of community-based organizations formed in 2018 to address the overrepresentation of Native Hawaiians in our child welfare system.

We are also co-chairs of the Malama ‘Ohana Workgroup, created to engage stakeholders — including representatives from DHS, CWS, those who work for the CWS system, and Native Hawaiian serving organizations — to recommend transformative changes to the current CWS system.

We were encouraged that the state legislative House and Senate conference committees approved House Bill 2424 on May 5. The bill includes language about making Malama ‘Ohana Workgroup a larger statewide conversation as well as $8 million to expand the recruitment and training of foster parents and CWS social workers and boost pay. Subsequently, we were very disappointed to learn that it is now on Gov. David Ige’s veto list and we strongly urge him to allow this important bill to become law.

But legislation is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to fortifying our strained child welfare system.

The state must recommit to ensuring CBOs and CWS join forces to better take care of its keiki and youth. The Department of Human Services contracts out much of its hands-on, ground-level work to CBOs. The staff of CBOs are the ones who are working to recruit more foster homes and provide the training to improve retention.

When true costs are not covered, the burden of finding additional funds to cover the unfunded portion of the contracts falls on the CBOs, taking time and energy from providing services to those in need.

Like CWS, we are experiencing staff shortages and low pay. Without adequate support from the state, we can’t pay the unsung heroes on the frontlines who are making a difference in the lives of our keiki.

We are dedicated to finding solutions to prevent further loss and tragedy. We will continue to seek ways for CBOs, faith-based groups, and homestead communities to partner together to protect our children and strengthen our families. If the state can provide robust financial support to its hardworking CBOs, we are confident we can strengthen our child welfare services and better take care of our deserving keiki,‘opio, and their ohana.

Venus Rosete-Medeiros is CEO of Hale Kipa; Laurie Tochiki is executive director of EPIC ‘Ohana.