McIntosh sent a copy of Keanaaina's story to the FBI and considers it credible. Child welfare advocates asked those questions and then went looking for loopholes in Hawaii's laws. They wanted to craft a statute that could prevent a similar situation from happening again. There was nothing that would have applied. Such a law also would have been too broad and would even have prohibited parents from dropping children off at a baby-sitter's, said Annabel Murray, project coordinator of Na Keiki Law Center, which provides volunteer legal representation for children.
Current law allows criminal charges for abandonment and child endangerment.
Creating a new law is a diversion, she said. Instead, the focus needs to be on child protective services. When we think about how can we make sure that this doesn't happen again, I don't think you can point to the failure of any current statutory provisions or that we're lacking any statutory provisions. I think that the people who are mandated to protect children did not act quickly enough to protect this child. Staff actions defended Department of Human Services officials maintain that their staff followed department procedures properly in handling the case.