September 1, 2007
Where’s Peter Boy?
When Peter Boy Kema was a week old, his older step-siblings were taken away from his parents following allegations of abuse. They were briefly in the custody of their grandparents while the Department of Human Services on the Big Island investigated.
When Peter Boy was four months old he was admitted to the hospital with new and older fractures to his shoulder, elbow, ribs and knee. All of the children were removed from the home. A guardian ad litem recommended that parental rights be terminated. A psychological evaluation stated that both parents “come across as extremely needy and emotionally immature persons who are evasive of responsibility and who displace the source of difficulties onto others. They appeared to be so wrapped up in their own adjustment problems and unhappiness to the point that this compromises their ability to be empathic and understanding of the children’s needs and neither of them comes across as particularly child oriented.”
When Peter Boy was three he was returned to his parents, despite the pleas of his grandparents and his foster parents and the recommendatuions of the court and the psychiatrist.
There is ample evidence that there was a pattern of repeated abuse over the next few years. His siblings now report that they were all abused, but Peter Boy seemed to get the worst of it. Other parties verified reports of broken bones and black eyes, of Peter Boy being chained and locked into a car trunk, and of Peter Boy being made to eat dog feces.
In June of 1997, when Peter Boy would have been six years old, his grandparents reported him missing. The police stated that the parents knew where he was. Several months later the father reported that Peter Boy had been given to Auntie Rose Makuakane in Honolulu, a woman who has never been proven to have existed. In January of 1998, seven months after he was last seen, Peter Boy’s mother finally filed a missing persons report after having apparently been pressured by police and social workers to do so.
Peter Boy’s story was first publicized in February of 1998. Outrage erupted throughout the State of Hawaii. “Where’s Peter Boy?” was screamed from headlines. It was the presiding topic on morning talk shows and soon appeared on thousands of bumper stickers. All of us wanted to know but greatly feared the most likely answer to the question. Where’s Peter Boy?
In 2005 the Department of Human Services began releasing documents related to their handling of Peter Boy’s case. There are now over 2000 pages of documentation available to the public. Through those document we first learned that Peter Boy’s sister was probably the last person, other than the parents, to have seen him. She reported in 1997, and has restated in interviews this week, that she saw her mother trying to resuscitate him. Then she saw him naked, in a box. She said he was dead. Then she said he was in Honolulu. She was too young to not believe her parent’s story. She was too young, at five, to understand that death is permanent, that Peter Boy didn’t wake up, get out of the box and go to Honolulu.
Peter “Peter Boy” Kema Jr. was born into a family that was already “in the system.” DHS knew he was in danger when he was still an infant. No one really knows everything he may have suffered at the hands of those who should have been most concerned with his care. No one knows where he, or his remains, might be today. We’d all like to believe that Auntie Rose Makuakane really exists, and that she’s hidden him away, loved him and given him a good life for the last ten years. We’d like to believe it, but we can’t.
Peter Boy’s case is reviewed from time to time, but no real progress has been made since he was reported missing.
The system failed Peter Boy. Individuals within the system tried to help him, but found their hands tied by red tape and routine. The system is broken, perhaps beyond repair. Peter Boy is only one child who did not get the help he needed. Who knows how many others there may be? I don’t have any answers. It seems no one else does either. Some social workers fear accusations of wrongful removals of children from their homes almost as much as they do the harm that the children may be suffering. Their fears are real. Wrongful removals have caused terrible trauma to families. Social workers may also be traumatized and their careers may be destroyed. Still, should the fear of those rare wrongful removals be allowed to paralyze the system? Isn’t doing something better than doing nothing? The problems of funding and inadequate personnel can be solved with money. Not so the broken bureaucracy. Maybe it needs to be scrapped and rebuilt from the ground up, with a system of checks and balances that will allow compassionate professionals to rescue children in danger.
Peter Boy’s memory will not die. Cyberspace has seen to that. A Google search today returns “about 15,800″ results. It doesn’t do him any good that his story lives on. Maybe, just maybe, his story is helping other children.
Peter Boy Kema’s poster from The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Timeline, quote and photo source: The Honolulu Star Bulletin
Digg it here! I can never make a Digg icon work on my site, but if you’d like to Digg, click the link. Mahalo!
[tags]child abuse, children’s welfare, missing and exploited children, Peter Boy Kema[/tags]
Posted by skeet @ 8:08 pm • current events, Society & culture
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September 1st, 2007 at 9:14 pm, Tina Silva Says:
Wow…I am in complete shock. How can parents be so cruel and abusive to their own children? I mean, it’s your own flesh and blood!!
I dugged the story.
http://digg.com/world_news/Where_s_Peter_Boy
September 1st, 2007 at 9:20 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo for the Digg, Tina.
I don’t understand, either, how such cruelty can exist, especially for one’s own child. Peter Boy’s story has horrified and fascinated many of us for ten years. Apparently we care more than they ever did.
September 1st, 2007 at 10:17 pm, CyberCelt Says:
Dugg and commented on your article.
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:47 am, Kat Says:
Dugg and stumbled.
So very sad.
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:42 am, jo Says:
Dugg and stumbled it, very, very, sad.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:57 pm, Cynthia Marshall Says:
Dugg and stumbled.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo CC! I appreciate the Digg and the comment.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:14 pm, skeet Says:
Mahlo for the Digg and Stumbles, Kat. And I agree - I can’t imagine a story sadder than a child tortured and killed. It’s heartbreaking.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:16 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo for the Stumble and Digg, Jo. Yes, Peter Boy’s story is as sad as any I can imagine, and needs to be shouted from the rooftops. People need to know how we fail the most vulnerable among us.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo, Cynthia. I appreciate the Stumble and Digg.
September 3rd, 2007 at 7:33 pm, Info4Beingrich - Earning Money Online Made Easy Says:
Hi Skeet,
I have dugg and techno faved this story. Really a nice story.
September 4th, 2007 at 4:10 am, Vanda Says:
I dugg it under Vanda1. What a totally horrible story. I’m gobbsmacked how a child can get that lost within the system.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:26 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo for the Digg and the fave, Info4. My blog is usually pretty upbeat, but stories like Peter Boy’s need to be told.
September 4th, 2007 at 1:27 pm, skeet Says:
Mahalo for the Digg, Vanda. Yes, it’s amazing and horrible that people knew how badly Peter Boy was being abused, yet he remained in the home.
Ack! Sorry about the typos! Fixed now, but the copy you’ll get by email will be pretty messed up.
September 4th, 2007 at 3:06 pm, sharon Says:
How sad, it is a shame how the system failed that precious little boy. I look at my own sons and do not understand how a parent could possibly treat their children like that.
September 7th, 2007 at 8:24 am, Aaron Cook dot Com™ Says:
Dugg!
Here’s a fine example of something that should never have happened. The parents were known to be abusive. An intake report by Child Protective Services on May 8, 1991 rated child abuse in the Kema home as an 8 on a scale of 0 to 8!!!
Then he was examined at Hilo Medical Center, three months later, in August, with new and old fractures or injuries to his ribs, shoulders, knee and hip, according to a medical report. So why the hell were the kids ever let back in that house?!!
Cases like this make me sick.
It’s perfect proof that the system is not functioning correctly at all. And people need to be held accountable. It’s a clear case that CPS and other agencies screwed up severely. They should be help accountable, that’s my opinion.
Shine on,
Aaron
October 19th, 2007 at 1:02 pm, Bucket O’ Bulletz » Carnival of Injustice Volume 3: Children Says:
[…] presents Where’s Peter Boy? posted at Skeet’s Stuff. Children go missing every single day. What are we going to do about […]
June 6th, 2009 at 6:53 am, Chauntelle Says:
They were known to be abusive. For the most part, we were told that as long as we didn’t end up in the hospital it wasn’t abuse by our own social worker. Jaylin and Peter were horrible parents and they should be in Jail for Child Abuse. I’d like to know what more of evidence do they need. Jaylin was an idiot, most of all. Protect your children. How could you not? And Peter, was a psycho. He threatened to kill us and where is he now? Still Free. We’re all responsible. As the older brother and sister, we should have been there to protect our little brother. And our mother, she is the most guilty. What has she done? She had to be convinced to report him. ARGH…
June 6th, 2009 at 6:06 pm, skeet Says:
My heart goes out to you, Chauntelle, and to the rest of your family. i cannot begin to imagine the horrors you were forced to live through. It is my sincere prayer that you have all learned some way to cope with the burden of Peter’s loss and the notoriety that it generated. I am only one of thousands - probably hundreds of thousands - who still remember and are still asking - Where’s Peter Boy. NONE OF YOU are forgotten. We failed all of you. I hope that you and your brothers and sisters have been able to find some happiness and fulfillment after your very difficult start in life.