Kalani Motta is an essential employee – a Child/Adult Protective Services Specialist with the Hawaii Department of Human Services, and one big part of his job is to find foster homes for children in East Hawaii. Although he was given the option of working from home,” he says, “there’s no way you can work from home. When we respond to calls of concern, we have to go out and physically locate the family. The only way we can help these children is if we get out there and do it in person.”

Carrying out his duties during the coronavirus has been challenging: custody hearings are being rescheduled indefinitely, placement visits are occurring over the computer, and fewer families are adopting during the pandemic.

“We still go out, we still investigate and try to place the kids in our care. Our responsibilities haven’t stopped because of the health crisis, but it’s much more stressful to maintain a high level of service.”

Read more about Kalani’s work as an essential Child/Adult Protective Services Specialist and the changes he’s seeing in his line of work here.