After a 9-year-old Hawaiian girl starved to death while in the care of the state, her family has decided to sue the “state of Hawaii as well as her parents and grandmother for wrongful death.” According to the suit, a number of individuals, organizations, and government departments were negligent in the child's death, including the “Department of Human Services, Child Protective Services, Child Welfare Services and the Department of Education.”The nine-year-old girl, Shaelynn Lehano-Stone, died back in June 2016 in her home. The autistic child was unconscious when she was found by emergency responders and was rushed to the hospital for treatment. Tragically, she passed away hours later. According to her death certificate, she died because she was “denied food by her caregivers.”Prior to her death, Shaelynn bounced between her home and the care of the state due to concerns of abuse. In fact, the lawsuit notes that, despite “multiple reports of abuse and neglect, state workers returned the child to the grandmother.”

Small child covering her ears; image courtesy of
Counselling via Pixabay, www.pixabay.com

Randall Rosenberg, a relative of Shaelynn, said, “It's a gut-wrencher, no question about it.” He added:“She was noted to be undernourished by state workers on several different occasions, yet they continued to return her to the home. I've seen this pattern in other cases I've been involved in. I don't understand it, frankly.”When discussing the family's decision to file the lawsuit with just “two weeks shy of the wrongful death statute running out,” Rosenberg said:“It took some doing to get this done because of course the foster children are young and don't know anything about the legal system. The state is not going to step in and advise these children they have a right to sue because the state is one of the primary perpetrators in my mind, in this case.”Additionally, he and the rest of the family have concerns about Shaelynn's other siblings, a 13-year-old brother, and 11-year-old sister and want to “protect their future." Because their parents, Kevin Lehano, Tiffany Stone, and grandmother Henrietta Stone were charged with Shaelynn's murder, the other two children were placed into foster care on Hawaii's big island. When talking about the two children and how they're coping, Rosenberg said:“I understand they're having a lot of difficulties, primarily emotional. I don't know whether it's based on the death of their sister or the way they've been treated. One of my goals is to have them be fully evaluated by healthcare professionals to figure out what can be done to fix these problems.”Hawaii's Department of Human Services has yet to comment on the pending litigation.

Sources:

Family of 9-year-old Big Island girl who starved to death is suing the state for wrongful deathCPS had been in contact with Hawaii girl starved to death since she was a toddler