New Parents in Hawai‘i Don’t Have to Go It Alone

Family Hui Hawaii brings small groups together for friendship and support.

Executive Director Cherilyn Shinoki says Family Hui Hawaii “strengthens the community from within” by fostering a safe space where families are supported while navigating the challenges of raising children.

“The focus has always been to help parents be the best that they can be,” she says.

“We’re here to encourage and empower them and give them knowledge so they can feel confident.”

The nonprofit creates and nurtures small groups of families, with parents and keiki interacting and supporting each other in gatherings at parks, schools or recreational centers. From there the relationships between families often deepen.

With the help of Family Hui Hawaii, these groups are building parental resilience, sharing knowledge about childhood development and appropriate parenting strategies, and rooting families with support networks.

The core program lasts 10 to 12 weeks, “but the friendships you make within it last so much longer,” Shiinoki says.

“Our expertise is creating and holding that space for families to share with each other.”

The program supports children’s health, wellness, education and welfare, while protecting against child abuse and neglect. One way it does this is by providing parents with practices that align with early childhood development and are based on research and solid evidence.

Family Hui Hawaii has grown since its inception in December 2013 and last year served 1,800 individuals across Hawai‘i. It has expanded through word of mouth, community support and partnerships with agencies like the Salvation Army and its Family Treatment Services programs, and the Malama Family Recovery Center, an addiction treatment facility in Kahului.

It has also formed partnerships with businesses: UHA Health Insurance and Hawaiian Electric have both run pilot programs with their employees using the Family Hui Hawaii model.

Among those Family Hui Hawaii has helped are teen parents, single parents, special-needs families and extended ‘ohana, Shiinoki says. The nonprofit even works on early interventions at neonatal intensive care units to safeguard children’s well-being.

“Over half of child abuse and neglect victims are under one year old,” Shiinoki says. “It emphasizes just how important that prevention piece is. I’d like all families to have this experience. Let’s connect at birth. This is truly the ‘have a baby, join a hui’ concept.”