June 28, 2025 • 39 mins
It's often hidden this black eye on Hawaii's picture perfect paradise: Our foster care crisis. But in this powerful conversation with Brad & Esther McDaniel, founders of Harvest Family Life Ministries, not only are we shining light & truth but also giving simple solutions for anyone to help.
The reality is sobering: ~5,000 children in need & fewer than 600 homes. Many keiki sleep in state offices, closets, or hotel rooms as they wait to be placed. Most troubling is the huge number of Native Hawaiian keiki, highlighting deeper challenges faced by Hawaii's indigenous people.
Yet hope shines thru: "If just 10% of Bible-teaching churches engaged with foster care, we could eradicate these needs in about five years," Brad exclaims. And it's simple: there are many entry points for involvement—from occasional baby-sitting to donations or volunteering—everyone can be foster ohana. Why? When faced with abandonment, aloha always wins!
Harvest Family Life Ministries: 808-694-0000 / www.hflhi.org
IG @DawnOBrienHI
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www.ChooseAloha.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Aloha, my kakou aloha .
Aloha alive is all about livingaloha and making it come alive.
I have with us today two peoplewho are supernatural, superhero
and super shero.
It's kind of like Wonder Woman,superman and they got married.
Welcome to Brad and EstherMcDaniel.
(00:33):
They've been high schoolsweethearts since HBA, hawaii
Baptist Academy, and ever sincethen they've both gone into
helping the Keiki of Hawaiithrough Harvest, family Life
Ministries, specifically helpingfoster families and churches
come together as one.
Good day to both of you andaloha.
(00:54):
Thank you for having us.
Now I want to say, as we getstarted, I'm going to say this
real fast because I don't wantto start crying.
I'm not going to do that, but Igo to a lot of church services.
I see a lot of pastorspreaching and I'll take a ton of
notes because I think in ink.
I very rarely keep a card thatI've written on and this one is
dated I'm sorry, july 30th 2022.
(01:18):
You were speaking at CalvaryChapel and it says Brad McDaniel
and you were talking aboutfoster children 2,700 foster
keiki in the state of Hawaiiliving in the Department of
Health, living in hotel rooms,living in offices.
There were 600 licensed homesand basically there was a lot
(01:40):
going on that I was not aware offor our children.
Can you tell us today how manyHawaii Keiki are without
families?
Sorry, it's, catchy, right itis.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So we are looking at about 5,000 kids, according to
the 2024 audit done by the state, who are receiving services
from child welfare services.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So- 5,000 children who do not have parents.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Correct, or their parents are working to get to a
place where the home is safe.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Right, so have food stability and have a home where
we can pay the bills and safety,real, simple and basic living.
Okay, so that's.
Another quick question is wheredo they stay if they're not
adopted into a foster family?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
well.
So foster care is temporary, solet's start there that we're
hoping and praying for.
Reunification with biologicalfamily members doesn't have to
be the parents, it could be begrandma, cousins, auntie, uncle.
But if that doesn't work out,then generally the first choice
would be like okay, fosterparents, what do you think you
know, looking at permanency,legal guardianship or adoption?
(02:56):
But then we do have many youthwho don't even have that option.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Because right now, as of this date and we're going to
keep this dateless for thepodcast you said that we're kind
of sold out on homes, but westill have children.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes, absolutely.
We're always in this shortageand nationwide that's a common
thing in every state.
There's not enough foster homesand when we're talking about
that, we're saying a familysetting right, like if we took
in kids that we got licensedfrom the state to do foster care
, then we've done that, like formany, many years.
(03:31):
There's just not enoughfamilies.
And that's what we do.
We navigate that system to helpmore families from our local
churches be ready to receivechildren, so that children
aren't waiting.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So I have a couple of questions come quickly to mind.
First one, and you just saidthat is, we pair foster keiki,
or children, with churches.
Is that the purpose of Harvest?
Family Life Ministries?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Oh we're big on church engagement.
Yeah, my favorite thing isreminding the community we're
not a church Harvest.
Family, life is not a churchharvest.
Family and life is not a church.
It's the local church that hasthat fellowship and children's
ministry and women's and men'sministry and just that natural
ohana in jesus.
It's good and that's truly whatour children need.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So pairing churches with foster keiki.
It seems like like God's owndesign, because God and it's
part of our aloha in the stateof Hawaii is to hanai, which
means I adopt you in, and thegreatest hanai was that Jesus is
the only son of God.
But we're all hanai'd, we'readopted in, especially if we're
(04:42):
not Jewish right, which would bethe first family, but then
there's all of us who gotgrafted in and had night.
So this really is god's plan.
Now I want to ask you anotherquestion that came to mind right
then how many licensed homesare there for foster children?
And it's almost a moot point,because you just told me there's
not enough homes, but how manyare licensed?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
well, we want to make sure that we have some good
data and so we had pulled up.
The latest thing that we couldget access to publicly was
September 2023.
And this is from the audit, sothe state auditor.
These are numbers.
For Oahu, there was 341 totalresource caregiver homes.
That's the other name forfoster parent, and there's a
(05:25):
couple different kinds oflicense.
General license means that wecan take in anyone, any child,
that is, you know enteringfoster care.
So there was 142 generallicense homes and then 199 child
specific homes, most likelykinship, like know, auntie,
uncle, grandma, cousins, right,or even a neighbor.
(05:46):
That's how we actually started.
Our neighbors ended up, theirchildren entered foster care and
they ended up at our home wow,so sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I went to public school, you guys went to private
.
What is the total number onthat then?
If I add those all together, ohthis is Island?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I just did Island.
Is it just one?
Just a general estimate.
So it's 341.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And no slam or shame on public schools, by the way,
but how much is the totalestimate of licensed homes?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh, it's going to be less than that 600.
That he said there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So this was back in 2022.
We had 600 licensed homes.
Now it's less than 600, butyou're still telling me the
number of foster childrenneeding a home is 5,000.
And that is the message ofurgency that I wanted to bring
to my audience Because, as Isaid, I've heard thousands of
preachers in my lifetime.
(06:39):
I take notes every time, butthe I rarely keep a a card.
I kept this card because itbothers me and I think part of
that is we have these, thesefilms, like we're coming out
with a disney film, right, andthe disney quote, right.
Ohana means family, and familymeans no one gets left behind.
(06:59):
I'm not shaming our state.
I think we have one of the mostpowerful forces on earth in
Aloha.
That's why I recalled AlohaAlive.
But I also know that until Isaw that there was a problem, I
didn't know we needed a solution.
And so thank you, brad andEsther, for faithfully bringing
(07:21):
to us the black eye of our state, that we are not taking care of
our children, and then toquickly segue, oftentimes the
only time we hear about this onthe news, because it does give
paradise a black eye and that'sbad for tourism, it's bad for
business.
The bottom line is the bottomline, it's about money.
But on this show we are true,right we are.
(07:42):
We tell the truth, the wholetruth and nothing but the truth.
So help us God.
So here's the deal is that theblack eye is we're not taking
care of our children.
They're living in hallways,they're living in offices, at
state offices, state departments, and they're living in hotel
rooms.
But we can make a differencefor 5,000 children.
It doesn't take all that much.
(08:04):
You started with a neighbor.
Now, how did you get started?
Because I saw that your degree,esther, either one of you can
take this.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
inspired to help children like this.
So we were.
We knew early on in ourmarriage that we wanted to do
foster care.
It just was something God hadput in our hearts and it never
came together.
Through the different avenuesthat we explored, it just wasn't
the right time, 2003,.
Over a span of about five weeks, we got three either knocks or
phone calls.
(08:34):
Wow, and this is the story thatreally started us doing what we
were doing.
I was a senior pastor at thetime at Mililani Missionary
Church.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And our neighbors knocked on our door and we had
really made an effort to beknown and know our community
that was.
We did some very proactivethings to do that and so we met
these neighbors.
Because of that, Over that spanof time, husband got arrested.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
They got evicted because what he was arrested for
was he was using and the moneythat he was stealing was going
not to the rent.
And then eventually the kidsended up in the system.
But when they got evicted wetold the five kids 18 down to
eight years old right.
Mom bring them here.
And she said I'm going to gostay at my sister's.
And she did that and we had thekids.
(09:23):
We had two-bedroom place.
Our kids were five and eightyears old.
We moved our kids into ourbedroom, those five kids in the
other bedroom and on the couchand wherever else they could be.
And it was.
I always say it was joyfulchaos one bathroom, one bathroom
wow.
And four of those five kidswere girls.
So now we have five girls, anadult woman, queen Esther.
(09:45):
Yes, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, joyful chaos.
I like that.
But there was a felt need, youfelt it and you took.
Well, as Pastor Alan Cardenasoften says, part of Aloha is
extreme kuleana, extremeownership.
And you took extreme ownershipthere in Mililani, where, where
you were living in a two-bedroom, one bath.
Now how did that lead intoHarvest, family Life?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, what we saw during that time was how the
church knows nothing about this.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I was stunned, I'm a senior pastor.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'm a third-generation pastor and I
had no clue what to do with thisand had gone to a Christian
private school.
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yes, I've been in church all my life.
I've never heard these numbers.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that has to change.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I was offended.
Righteously angry would be anice way to say it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And that's what hit us kind of in the face as we
walk through family court andvisits and all the stuff that
goes on in this kind of setting,with a child who, with children
who were screaming and cryingright as they had they're
walking through trauma.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They're in active trauma.
This isn't a one-time accident.
It and done this is.
I am continuing to walk throughthe valley of the shadow of
death, and they may not knowJesus, so go ahead and and they
may be in a home that doesn'tdirect them to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So how do we handle that trauma?
And I want to say a couple ofthings, and one first and I say
this to church all the time isthat there are some things that
we are not supposed to prayabout, and if we had stopped to
hold a prayer meeting at SeekWise Council whatever the case
may be but none of those are badthings and those kids ended up
on the street, that would havebeen on us, wow.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And so God's word is clear about taking care of the
children yes, so- the widows andthe orphans, the widows and the
orphans, right, and we oftentalk about the forgotten ones,
and these really are thevulnerable, the most vulnerable.
These are children.
They don't know where to go andmake money, where to get their
next meal or where the roof isgoing to come from, and so thank
you for doing that, friend, fortaking extreme ownership.
(11:52):
Now you're, you're talking andkind of building on how Harvest
family life started.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, so as we saw that I'm still pastoring and we
went to Calvary Chapel Now I'mon staff there and Harvest.
We're now taking kids in justregularly over time.
Social workers are calling.
We didn't get licensed rightaway.
All of that is going on andEsther is working at Kokua Ohana
(12:19):
, which back then was underPartners in Development and it
was a contract that focused onNative Hawaiian children and
faith-based recruitment.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And that actually they brought our founder Harvest
Family Life Ministries from thestate of Texas, bishop Aaron
Blake, to teach them how thestate and the church can work
together, and also to focus onthe Native Hawaiian children,
because there are more NativeHawaiians in the system than any
other ethnicity, with a20-something percent of our
(12:53):
population being Native Hawaiian.
So something's not right.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh, now say that again, that the Native Hawaiian
population are more highlyrepresented.
They're the top representationof foster children, when really
we know, and Governor Green hasrecently stated are more highly
represented, they're the toprepresentation of foster
children, when really we know,and Governor Green has recently
stated that Hawaiians are, bylarge and far the most moving
out of the state and so there'smore Hawaiians outside of the
boundaries of Hawaii and theislands than there are here, and
(13:18):
yet we have more of the fosterchildren.
So that concept again and I'mnot trying to shame or blame,
because we're here to findsolutions and to be ohana to
aloha, but it we need to helpand reach out for those who are
the least of these and the worstof we's then we have what
hawaiians call heva, the wrongthat has been done and we can
(13:38):
see the ramifications or theconsequences of this right.
So how do we help?
Because it almost scares me andI know you're building to where
harvest family life started.
Thank you for saying you've beenin operation for almost 30
years as a family.
Your daughter has even been afoster mom when she turned
around and became of age, andnow your grandparents
(14:00):
congratulations.
Your whole family was into itthen was, was it 13 years ago
you became officially licensedin the state of Hawaii as
Harvest, family Life, rightMinistries, hawaii.
So how, when I hear a storylike you took five kids into a
one bedroom and you had one bath, I'm going to tell you I'm that
frog who jumps into that hotpan of fire and jump right back
(14:22):
out.
I don't think I can do it.
But if Mele, your daughter,could do it, how can the rest of
us take practical steps to dothat?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I think the bottom line, first and foremost, is, as
believers, god calls some of usto take children into their
home, and this is one of thosethings that agape love always
involves sacrifice.
Jesus demonstrated that for us,and so we have to stop with the
questions of how difficult it'sgoing to be.
(14:51):
Are my kids going to get hurt?
That's reality.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But if God says do it , we're just supposed to go do
it.
So I know that simplifies, butfaith is supposed to be simple.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, and what's interesting to me is you're
saying it may hurt, there may beconflict in the family, and
that's what happens with blendedor mixed families.
We know that now with a lot ofstep families et cetera.
But guess what?
The hurt is everywhere.
Now I mean that's kind of a badnews.
Good news thing because it'sthe same news there's hurt
everywhere.
So I've heard one of myfavorite podcasters say pick
(15:26):
your difficult.
It's hard to wake up early inthe morning and go work out, but
it's also hard to be overweightand going into the hospital all
the time or taking meds.
So pick your heart.
And so you're going to.
I'm going to pick my hurt.
So how do people get started?
And is there support forfamilies who do foster, who get
licensed?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah.
And so we're here, sitting heresaying there's trouble in
paradise, thank you, thank you,esther.
Who, in your healthy, wonderfulChristian home, wants to bring
brokenness into it?
Well, that's the number one wayto grow your faith, let me tell
you right.
So that was one of the thingsthat we love is helping people
navigate this big system.
So child welfare services is abig system.
(16:06):
How do you get licensed and allthis risk-taking that's
involved?
Well, that's what we love to doat Harvest Family Life is walk
with you through that process.
We've been through it atdifferent times child specific
licensing, general licensing.
We've done different things,you know, and we have good
(16:27):
people that we work with at thestate who are willing and able
to help us, to help you getlicensed for foster care.
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
There's such a different variety of ways to go
through that process.
I think it might be better tojust give the information of how
to contact us.
If we do a pre-service visit,we will come into the home of
the family and talk them through.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I like that because if it's this big, scary thing I
want to help, but it looks likeI have to climb Mauna Loa or
Mauna Kea, 10,000 foot elevation.
But if you help me walk thefirst few steps, I think it's
more doable.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So the pre-visit so if people will just contact us,
we'll go in their home, we'lltalk through everything you just
asked us about and say where doyou fit, because it's a very
personal step that people aretaking.
Thank you, and so we want toone.
The support begins with Harvest, but then we want to help their
local church, support them aswell, because we can't support
(17:23):
5,000 people.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That's the goal is to have that many homes.
Yes, absolutely, that everychild is, no child left behind.
That's one of the things wechant in Hawaii, doe.
So what is the contact?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Let's start saying that for people to have, so our
office number is 808-694-0000.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
808-694-0000.
If Hilo High can crack that,one anybody got that one.
And also, you have a greatwebsite, which we're going to
have this flash up on the screenThanks to our great video
editors.
But the website, if I've got itright, is basically the acronym
of your name.
It's Harvest Family Life,hawaii is HFLHIorg, so again,
(18:10):
that's wwwhflhiorg.
Okay, so they can go on there.
What I love about that place,it's real simply laid out.
It's not hard to you knownavigate.
It's all on one page or youclick on something and I can see
where.
If you feel like, okay, well, Ican donate fifty dollars or
five thousand or five dollarsmakes a difference nowadays, um,
(18:33):
you can click on donate and ittakes you either to a QR code or
you have uh texting and youalso have via check.
For those of us who are back inthe Flintstone stone ages and
we love our checks and we writethem.
So thank you for that.
Now, what other supportservices do we provide?
Foster families through harvestfamily life.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
We have something called circles of care, and
that's where I love that parttoo, because it's the church
engagement right, and we'redirecting people to find their
community, their fellowshipwithin the local church.
So there's things like a mealtrain, like, say it's.
We had one family, in fact, theBowen Jessica Nunez out of
Inspire, and they had threechildren and then they adopted
(19:16):
three more.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Wow so adjusting that menu planning.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
and they were not babies, they were like 13, 11,
and 9.
Oh, the growing giants.
Yeah, and two boys and a girlright.
They all eat like adults.
So we started with like a threeto four-month meal train where
there was meals or groceriesbeing dropped off three to four
times in a week to help her withthat adjustment.
We have other things wherewe've had people who are sick,
(19:42):
you know, like foster moms whoare ill or going through
something, and we'll have ayoung adult small group from one
level come out and clean herhouse, do her dishes, pick up
some of her errands that sheneeds to have done.
But the biggest one and this isso appreciated by foster
parents across the state isrespite or babysitting.
(20:02):
We really need respiteproviders and that isn't, you
know, that's kind of like thething of oh, I just want to get
my foot in the door or get mytoe a little wet with you're not
getting licensed for fostercare, but you are impacting the
life of a child as well as theircaregivers.
Yes, and here's the thing Ithink you'll like this little
(20:24):
factoid when you compare thenumber of churches across the
nation, the number of childrenin foster care in the United
States and the number ofcounties, when you put this
little algorithm and you throwthat all in there, if just 10%
of the local Christian,christian, bible-believing,
bible-teaching churches were toget engaged with serving the
(20:45):
foster care system, we woulderadicate all of these needs
probably in about five years.
Holy God and possibly less.
Right, because you put theJesus factor in there and never
mind about the time.
Right?
Just imagine if that churchwere to exponentialized like he
makes that church.
Just imagine if the church wereto rise up and activate in that
way.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now, thank you for saying that.
That was a big boom-ga-Jesus.
We could eradicate this wholeissue.
5,000 children, you know whowould have moms and dads,
aunties and uncles.
We would have ohana.
I also want to thank you and Iwant to recap that you said if
(21:26):
we could even provide somebabysitting for two to three
hours on a Friday night so momand dad can go and have a meal
without cleaning up six kids,right, or figuring out, it's a,
it's a respite.
It's more than just a rest,it's a respite for the soul.
And then another thing a friendof mine who just passed away
from cancer, and that's PastorTisha Falcon-Leifeld, you know,
she bragged on a friend of herswho came to the house and would
help them just do the laundry.
(21:47):
And that sister friend said I'msorry, sis, this is all I can
do.
And she about cried.
And if you know, tisha, that'spretty par for the course.
But she said, said, havingsomebody come in and do that
laundry for us, and no shame.
Either way, we all have dirtyundies and everything else and
we smell like sweat.
But if we can provide that tothese families, that's a nice.
(22:08):
I like that, just getting mytoe into the baby.
End of the pool.
Thank you for giving us littlefootholds.
Now can you tell us, um, youdid kind of tell us a few
success stories, but, um, what'sa day in the life of HFLM for
you folks Like you?
Just flew back from Kauai whereyou preached at a few churches
you were helping to set up.
I greeted you at the door, toldyou my brother-in-law works up
(22:31):
there.
You said what's his name?
We're taking names.
You know we're going to connectmore partners.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
What's a day in the life of Esther and Brad look
like for being supernaturalsuperheroes.
Girl, it is bathed in prayer.
Wow, it's gotta be inside outand upside down.
Sometimes I just have sermonsplaying in the back.
Yes, I need a good word tosustain us through.
People will say I don't know howyou can listen to child abuse
and neglect and these, the sinof the world, sin, the darkest
house.
To pray yes and then saying yes.
But you know what?
The hope in Jesus, that is whatwe can't take credit for, any
(23:12):
of it.
This is totally a holy spiritsustained.
We can't even explain, like,how did we sleep last night
after all of that?
I mean, yeah, you're exhausted,but also, for me, my brain's
always like going, like, what amI going to do?
Lord Trouble in paradise.
But then he says remember whatI said in Isaiah 61?
You're anointed to bring goodnews.
(23:32):
It's good If the church canjust continue to remember that
we have children and parents.
Their parents need the Lord.
Their parents need this hope,this love.
I fully forgot that.
You know, set the captives free,right, or the prisoners that
will be released.
It's interesting to note thosetwo different categories.
(23:54):
You know, it's like some areindicted of something, they're
carrying some kind of label andthey need to be set free.
Some are held captive.
They're putting their attentionon something and not even
realizing that they're actuallynot in a jail cell.
They're actually walking around, but they're still in some kind
of bondage.
But Jesus said come, that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Let me add on to that because it made me think.
So, those five kids, their mom,the first ones that we took
their mom nine, 10 months.
She did the things that neededto be done.
She brought them home one byone, but through the process she
went with us to a revival at alocal church and she gave her
life to the Lord.
So, that's 22 years ago.
She will tell you, I hated mysocial worker.
(24:39):
That was, you know, I justhated her, but that's the best
thing that ever happened to me.
Jesus saves people.
We know when we hit rock bottomand this is rock bottom for
parents, and so we talk a lotabout that taking it from a
place society has said childwelfare is shame.
God sees shame and showscompassion, and we, as the body
(25:04):
of Christ, have to learn to dothat that is so good.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I forgot about the parents completely because I'm
so focused on the littles, onthe keiki, the children, but
there's a real felt need there.
It calls to mind one of my dearfriends from Waianae.
She was a very success, is avery successful principal at
high schools, but she had sharedher testimony at one point and
said her dad was part of thesyndicate.
(25:29):
She never.
He wasn't part of her life.
He was often gone.
She was abandoned.
She had other family to helpraise her.
But of course we still yearnfor that mother-father figure.
She yearned many years after hegot out of prison.
He said he was sorry and shewas fine with that.
She forgave.
But my point in bringing thatup is that she said my father
(25:50):
never stopped loving me.
He knew he wasn't capable ofbeing my father but he never
stopped loving me.
And so, as you said, brad, tohave compassion for the parents,
because I'm pretty sure thatwhen anyone has a baby for most
human beings we don't have alittle baby and think I can't
wait to abandon you, I can'twait to royally mess up and
(26:14):
totally make you feel like theworst human on earth.
I bet there's no parent and infact.
That breaks something off in myheart right now towards my own
parents.
Thank you for that.
But back to the issue is thatwe are to have compassion for
those who are going through theworst moment, who wanted to
abandon their child Most humansdon't by nature, so thank you
(26:35):
for that, brad.
It's ministering to the wholefamily and that's a lot like
Camp Agape comes to mind, right,with Pastor Roy and Char,
because that ministers tochildren of the incarcerated
people.
They go, auntie Dawn, just sayI'm normal, my parents is in
prison.
Hello, you don't have to sayincarcerated, so I go okay.
Okay, your parents are inprison, prison.
(26:55):
But no parent ever thought, hey, when I, when I wake up today,
I want to be arrested, I want tobe locked up for 10 to 15 and I
want to make sure my childrenfeel like nobody loves them, no
one, ever in their right stateof mind.
So thank you for that reminder.
Now, are there partner churchesthat help you?
Because I saw there's like aclothing store or there's a
(27:17):
store and there's no moneyinvolved for the foster families
.
Can you brag on?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
those partners, that story that he told about the
woman that went to the, therevival that was at um, one of
the baptist churches that is nowinvolved, which is olivet
baptist church.
So they do not house a cocoacloset, but university avenue
baptist, but University AvenueBaptist Church houses a Kukua
Closet.
Yeah, you do, and there ispartnership, right.
The surrounding churches, orany churches, can come and go
(27:45):
through our volunteerorientation and serve at Kukua
Closet, which is a free resourcestore, right, kukua Right, so
there is no charge for ourfamilies that are coming in to
shop on Fridays.
And Central Baptist, which isjust a diagonal from Roosevelt
High School.
They house one that's open onSaturdays.
Kauai Inspirational Fellowshipin Wahiawa will be launching one
(28:06):
in June.
So it's a little church, it's atiny little church, but they
have designated a whole room toserve children.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Ain't no shame in our little church game.
Come on now.
Might be small of size butmighty of heart and mighty of
miracles.
This is a lot more than I sawon your website, so that's good
news.
It's spreading, there's morepartners coming in and I love
that these families can come in,like if I suddenly that one
family took in three and twoboys.
I don't know that I couldafford to to clothe all these
(28:37):
children or have school supplies, backpacks, cold meds right, if
there's a whole plethora ofneeds that get supplied at these
stores yes, and and especiallylike what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, you have placement all of a sudden.
So we've had people who maybehad older kids or their kids are
already out of the home and nowyou're getting a toddler placed
.
You don't have a crib, likewhat do you do?
So harvest will come and helpyou reconfigure that space to
prepare it, and if you're goingthrough foster care licensing,
we'll do that too.
Like you don't know what yourplacement is going to be, but
we'll help you get beds.
(29:09):
We have partners and newpartners, sweep and heavenly
peace, so they're helping usgetting beds, and that's the
whole thing that we love.
Right is church engagement, aswell as bringing on other
agencies and other communitypartners, all for the sake of
our Kiki, and I love thatthere's different entry points
for all of us in the communityis what I'm hearing.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Like I could be a person who volunteers at the
stores the Kokua store or Icould be a person who's
supplying furniture Right,there's a lot of different entry
points again, pukas, that wecould place Now.
Another question I had for youfolks is are there other things
to support the families that wedidn't talk about?
(29:52):
Foster families, other services?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
The one thing that I would highlight with that.
We have a technology tool thatwe brought to the state of
Hawaii in 2018 called CarePortal.
Care Portal is in 38 states now, I believe, and it basically
child welfare professionalsthose who are serving vulnerable
children can go on the website,put in a need that they may
(30:16):
have crib, bunk, bed, whateverthe case may be and tell a
little bit of the story aboutthe family, because people give
from their hearts, not theirhead, within confidentiality
guidelines, and then when theyclick submit.
In Kona right now, there areabout 500 Christians from 10
different churches who will getan email nicely formatted saying
(30:39):
here's the need, here's how youcan help, and then if they say
I want to help and they gothrough the process of filling
stuff out, it then connects themto that worker who put the need
in.
On Oahu, there are about 600Christians from 20 churches.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Holy, that's awesome.
So this was through Care Portal.
Yes, awesome, genius.
This is technology being usedfor God's greater good.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Hundreds of children and Department of Education has
been using it almost three yearsnow.
Wonderful, it's amazing.
From graduation cap and gown,prom bids, cleaning things,
cleaning things you know it allcomes under the education of
homeless children and youthprogram.
So we're really, really excitedabout that because, yes, we are
meeting needs of keiki o kaaina.
(31:27):
But what about that liaisonthat's at doe who's running all
around trying to take care ofall their different families and
and children?
We say come to cocoa closet.
Why don't you pick up somethings for yourself, not just
for your clients?
Wow, you're doing this work andyou're not doing it for the big
bucks.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
There's any way that we surprise, surprise, the state
of hawaii doesn't pay all thatmuch, especially to our dear
beloved social workers.
Thank you for blessing them andthat ministers to their heart,
because that is a concern.
And we want to two, two things.
I want to state Thank you forbringing that up, esther that
you folks work hand in hand withthe state departments, right
(32:07):
With child welfare services andall these other department of
human services.
I think it is so.
Thank you for that.
And then the other thing ismaintaining joy.
The joy of the Lord is ourstrength and you mentioned that
earlier and you mentioned itagain just now.
How do we maintain our joy whenyou're looking at and working
in this area that can be likethe cesspit of humanity, like if
(32:30):
you're that blessed person whogoes down into the sewage pipes
and rescues?
You know people who are stuckin that system.
How do you keep your joy?
And you've been blessing otherpeople who aren't even in
churches, they're in statedepartments, but that's where
I'm going to come in for alanding with the two of you.
Thank you for doing that.
How do you keep your joy?
(32:51):
You said you bathe yourself ininside out prayer and worship,
worship music.
But it's.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You know, we, we get the honor of being here on your
show, right, but along with usis hundreds of people, other
ministry workers, people, butand I think about our church,
ohana, we're part of bayviewchapel assembly of god.
Our pastor, rene Rene Lo, andBrother Alex them, giving us
(33:19):
this like releasing us into thecommunity, not saying, oh, you
got to be here every Sunday.
Like, they understand our call,they uplift us in prayer.
They're just a phone call or atext away.
It's all of the differentpeople that are in this.
I call them the Harvest Ohana,our board members, our board
members.
There was a time when I wasbringing a message on Mother's
(33:40):
Day and I was so sick and fourprayers came in Boom, boom, boom
, boom, boom.
And then it was like one moretime of just this bout of nausea
and vomiting and then it wasdone.
You know we experience thosethings on a daily basis that we
recognize.
There's other people who areupholding our arms yeah, that we
get to be on this show.
But there's all these peoplewho are serving children across
(34:02):
the state, right, and prayingand putting the word out and
giving them the word of God andbeing agents of hope.
You know, amen.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think God not I think I know God supernaturally
one gives us a margin for thekind of pain that we see, that
not everybody has, and that'swhen he calls us.
You know, we say that when hecalls you he equips you, and
that's true, but the way that heequips are in ways that we
never would have thought.
That's that idea that we cansee that stuff, and not that it
(34:33):
doesn't break our hearts, but itdoesn't break our hearts to a
place where they can't be mended.
So it breaks our heart.
And then the Holy Spirit stepsin and says okay, here's
solutions, and while you work onsolutions, I'm going to mend
that heart and you won't evenknow what's going on.
So I think that joy comes fromobviously supernatural work with
(34:59):
the Holy Spirit and then beingable to hang on to the stories,
some of which we've told you thegood stories, because there's a
lot of good stories out there.
Even though it's a place ofugliness and brokenness, god is
always at work.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So we hang on to those good stories and that
brings us joy constantly.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
That's beautiful.
I'm going to share a quickmemory and I won't compromise
the child's name, but we weretogether at your Harvest Family
Life Christmas celebration thispast year.
I had the honor of emceeing andthere was a young man there
from a school who recognized meas Auntie Dawn from Choose Aloha
program and he goes Auntie Dawn, could I, could I say something
(35:40):
on the mic with you?
And you know you get that a lotand I'm not trying to encourage
that with all children, but hewas really an articulate young
man.
You're remembering who I was,who I am talking of.
And he was adopted into orbeing fostered by a Samoan
family and you know, forwhatever reason, this was their
only child, as far as I couldsee.
(36:01):
Uh, and, and Samoan families.
What I love about them, as withmany local families, they
always wear matching attireright, whether it's the Samoan
attire or Aloha attire, whateverit is, and they had their
matching I think it was MissingPolynesia brand.
And the young boy also had hismatching with dad and with mom
(36:21):
and they were so proud of himwhen he came up on stage to
co-MC with me and he wanted tobe so helpful.
He's such a good boy, but youcould tell the love of that mom
and that dad and the dad morequiet, right, but the mom, she
had her camera up, they werefilming.
Can we get a picture with you,auntie Dawn?
But there's that nest of lovethat a child needs, that if it
(36:46):
is cast out of the nest tooquickly, as many are in the
foster system, it can hardentheir hearts and we know that
Jesus talks about a hardenedheart of stone and how he has to
transform that back into flesh.
But you could see that not onlywas this child having such a
warm, beating heart of alofatalofa ofa right and he's coming
(37:10):
up strong in that Samoan way,but you could see it in his
parents, in his foster parents.
And now, because of what yousaid about my forgetting the
family, the original biologicalfamily, now I'm praying for that
little boy's parents, his biofamily, and it's a win for the
boy, it's a win for the fosterfamily, it's a win for that bio
(37:31):
family that's not forgotten andit's a win for God.
That bio family that's notforgotten and it's a win for God
.
It's win, win, win.
Aloha always wins.
So thank you both.
Can we give the contact again?
I know the website.
I'll get that for us808-694-0000.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
And our website is wwwhflhiorg.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
And again, this is Harvest Family Life Ministries.
This is dear friends, brad andEsther McDaniel.
Their whole family becameinvolved with foster care from
an early age in a very authentic, natural way.
Please know that at this timein 2025, that there are 5,000
children in need of our Aloha.
(38:26):
But when we choose Aloha asthat young and I'll just call
him a brown kid the brown kidsaw with his family, thenoha
always wins and we can wintogether, even if it's an hour
on a friday night that you'regonna babysit for them and give
respite to a foster family, ormaybe it's some furniture going
(38:46):
in there, or maybe it's adonation to the kukua stores
right, I didn't hear that, butwe could do that as well.
Donating and then, if also cashis always it's not king,
because jesus is king, but ifyou want to donate that, that's
also online on their website hflhighorg.
Thank you again.
Mcdaniel's is is.
I love you and thank you forbeing the supernatural superhero
(39:08):
and super shiro of aloha.
Thank you, thank you forhappiness.
Aloha, my kakou aloha .
Aloha alive is all about livingaloha and making it come alive.
I have with us today two peoplewho are supernatural, superhero
and super shero.
It's kind of like Wonder Woman,superman and they got married.
Welcome to Brad and EstherMcDaniel.
(00:33):
They've been high schoolsweethearts since HBA, hawaii
Baptist Academy, and ever sincethen they've both gone into
helping the Keiki of Hawaiithrough Harvest, family Life
Ministries, specifically helpingfoster families and churches
come together as one.
Good day to both of you andaloha.
(00:54):
Thank you for having us.
Now I want to say, as we getstarted, I'm going to say this
real fast because I don't wantto start crying.
I'm not going to do that, but Igo to a lot of church services.
I see a lot of pastorspreaching and I'll take a ton of
notes because I think in ink.
I very rarely keep a card thatI've written on and this one is
dated I'm sorry, july 30th 2022.
(01:18):
You were speaking at CalvaryChapel and it says Brad McDaniel
and you were talking aboutfoster children 2,700 foster
keiki in the state of Hawaiiliving in the Department of
Health, living in hotel rooms,living in offices.
There were 600 licensed homesand basically there was a lot
(01:40):
going on that I was not aware offor our children.
Can you tell us today how manyHawaii Keiki are without
families?
Sorry, it's, catchy, right itis.
I'm sorry.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
So we are looking at about 5,000 kids, according to
the 2024 audit done by the state, who are receiving services
from child welfare services.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So- 5,000 children who do not have parents.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Correct, or their parents are working to get to a
place where the home is safe.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Right, so have food stability and have a home where
we can pay the bills and safety,real, simple and basic living.
Okay, so that's.
Another quick question is wheredo they stay if they're not
adopted into a foster family?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
well.
So foster care is temporary, solet's start there that we're
hoping and praying for.
Reunification with biologicalfamily members doesn't have to
be the parents, it could be begrandma, cousins, auntie, uncle.
But if that doesn't work out,then generally the first choice
would be like okay, fosterparents, what do you think you
know, looking at permanency,legal guardianship or adoption?
(02:56):
But then we do have many youthwho don't even have that option.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Because right now, as of this date and we're going to
keep this dateless for thepodcast you said that we're kind
of sold out on homes, but westill have children.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Yes, absolutely.
We're always in this shortageand nationwide that's a common
thing in every state.
There's not enough foster homesand when we're talking about
that, we're saying a familysetting right, like if we took
in kids that we got licensedfrom the state to do foster care
, then we've done that, like formany, many years.
(03:31):
There's just not enoughfamilies.
And that's what we do.
We navigate that system to helpmore families from our local
churches be ready to receivechildren, so that children
aren't waiting.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
So I have a couple of questions come quickly to mind.
First one, and you just saidthat is, we pair foster keiki,
or children, with churches.
Is that the purpose of Harvest?
Family Life Ministries?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Oh we're big on church engagement.
Yeah, my favorite thing isreminding the community we're
not a church Harvest.
Family, life is not a churchharvest.
Family and life is not a church.
It's the local church that hasthat fellowship and children's
ministry and women's and men'sministry and just that natural
ohana in jesus.
It's good and that's truly whatour children need.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So pairing churches with foster keiki.
It seems like like God's owndesign, because God and it's
part of our aloha in the stateof Hawaii is to hanai, which
means I adopt you in, and thegreatest hanai was that Jesus is
the only son of God.
But we're all hanai'd, we'readopted in, especially if we're
(04:42):
not Jewish right, which would bethe first family, but then
there's all of us who gotgrafted in and had night.
So this really is god's plan.
Now I want to ask you anotherquestion that came to mind right
then how many licensed homesare there for foster children?
And it's almost a moot point,because you just told me there's
not enough homes, but how manyare licensed?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
well, we want to make sure that we have some good
data and so we had pulled up.
The latest thing that we couldget access to publicly was
September 2023.
And this is from the audit, sothe state auditor.
These are numbers.
For Oahu, there was 341 totalresource caregiver homes.
That's the other name forfoster parent, and there's a
(05:25):
couple different kinds oflicense.
General license means that wecan take in anyone, any child,
that is, you know enteringfoster care.
So there was 142 generallicense homes and then 199 child
specific homes, most likelykinship, like know, auntie,
uncle, grandma, cousins, right,or even a neighbor.
(05:46):
That's how we actually started.
Our neighbors ended up, theirchildren entered foster care and
they ended up at our home wow,so sorry.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
I went to public school, you guys went to private
.
What is the total number onthat then?
If I add those all together, ohthis is Island?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I just did Island.
Is it just one?
Just a general estimate.
So it's 341.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And no slam or shame on public schools, by the way,
but how much is the totalestimate of licensed homes?
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Oh, it's going to be less than that 600.
That he said there.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
So this was back in 2022.
We had 600 licensed homes.
Now it's less than 600, butyou're still telling me the
number of foster childrenneeding a home is 5,000.
And that is the message ofurgency that I wanted to bring
to my audience Because, as Isaid, I've heard thousands of
preachers in my lifetime.
(06:39):
I take notes every time, butthe I rarely keep a a card.
I kept this card because itbothers me and I think part of
that is we have these, thesefilms, like we're coming out
with a disney film, right, andthe disney quote, right.
Ohana means family, and familymeans no one gets left behind.
(06:59):
I'm not shaming our state.
I think we have one of the mostpowerful forces on earth in
Aloha.
That's why I recalled AlohaAlive.
But I also know that until Isaw that there was a problem, I
didn't know we needed a solution.
And so thank you, brad andEsther, for faithfully bringing
(07:21):
to us the black eye of our state, that we are not taking care of
our children, and then toquickly segue, oftentimes the
only time we hear about this onthe news, because it does give
paradise a black eye and that'sbad for tourism, it's bad for
business.
The bottom line is the bottomline, it's about money.
But on this show we are true,right we are.
(07:42):
We tell the truth, the wholetruth and nothing but the truth.
So help us God.
So here's the deal is that theblack eye is we're not taking
care of our children.
They're living in hallways,they're living in offices, at
state offices, state departments, and they're living in hotel
rooms.
But we can make a differencefor 5,000 children.
It doesn't take all that much.
(08:04):
You started with a neighbor.
Now, how did you get started?
Because I saw that your degree,esther, either one of you can
take this.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
inspired to help children like this.
So we were.
We knew early on in ourmarriage that we wanted to do
foster care.
It just was something God hadput in our hearts and it never
came together.
Through the different avenuesthat we explored, it just wasn't
the right time, 2003,.
Over a span of about five weeks, we got three either knocks or
phone calls.
(08:34):
Wow, and this is the story thatreally started us doing what we
were doing.
I was a senior pastor at thetime at Mililani Missionary
Church.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Nice.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
And our neighbors knocked on our door and we had
really made an effort to beknown and know our community
that was.
We did some very proactivethings to do that and so we met
these neighbors.
Because of that, Over that spanof time, husband got arrested.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
They got evicted because what he was arrested for
was he was using and the moneythat he was stealing was going
not to the rent.
And then eventually the kidsended up in the system.
But when they got evicted wetold the five kids 18 down to
eight years old right.
Mom bring them here.
And she said I'm going to gostay at my sister's.
And she did that and we had thekids.
(09:23):
We had two-bedroom place.
Our kids were five and eightyears old.
We moved our kids into ourbedroom, those five kids in the
other bedroom and on the couchand wherever else they could be.
And it was.
I always say it was joyfulchaos one bathroom, one bathroom
wow.
And four of those five kidswere girls.
So now we have five girls, anadult woman, queen Esther.
(09:45):
Yes, it was fun.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Wow, joyful chaos.
I like that.
But there was a felt need, youfelt it and you took.
Well, as Pastor Alan Cardenasoften says, part of Aloha is
extreme kuleana, extremeownership.
And you took extreme ownershipthere in Mililani, where, where
you were living in a two-bedroom, one bath.
Now how did that lead intoHarvest, family Life?
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Well, what we saw during that time was how the
church knows nothing about this.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
I was stunned, I'm a senior pastor.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
I'm a third-generation pastor and I
had no clue what to do with thisand had gone to a Christian
private school.
Yes, right.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yes, I've been in church all my life.
I've never heard these numbers.
Speaker 2 (10:28):
And that has to change.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
I was offended.
Righteously angry would be anice way to say it.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
And that's what hit us kind of in the face as we
walk through family court andvisits and all the stuff that
goes on in this kind of setting,with a child who, with children
who were screaming and cryingright as they had they're
walking through trauma.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
They're in active trauma.
This isn't a one-time accident.
It and done this is.
I am continuing to walk throughthe valley of the shadow of
death, and they may not knowJesus, so go ahead and and they
may be in a home that doesn'tdirect them to Jesus.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
So how do we handle that trauma?
And I want to say a couple ofthings, and one first and I say
this to church all the time isthat there are some things that
we are not supposed to prayabout, and if we had stopped to
hold a prayer meeting at SeekWise Council whatever the case
may be but none of those are badthings and those kids ended up
on the street, that would havebeen on us, wow.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
And so God's word is clear about taking care of the
children yes, so- the widows andthe orphans, the widows and the
orphans, right, and we oftentalk about the forgotten ones,
and these really are thevulnerable, the most vulnerable.
These are children.
They don't know where to go andmake money, where to get their
next meal or where the roof isgoing to come from, and so thank
you for doing that, friend, fortaking extreme ownership.
(11:52):
Now you're, you're talking andkind of building on how Harvest
family life started.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, so as we saw that I'm still pastoring and we
went to Calvary Chapel Now I'mon staff there and Harvest.
We're now taking kids in justregularly over time.
Social workers are calling.
We didn't get licensed rightaway.
All of that is going on andEsther is working at Kokua Ohana
(12:19):
, which back then was underPartners in Development and it
was a contract that focused onNative Hawaiian children and
faith-based recruitment.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
And that actually they brought our founder Harvest
Family Life Ministries from thestate of Texas, bishop Aaron
Blake, to teach them how thestate and the church can work
together, and also to focus onthe Native Hawaiian children,
because there are more NativeHawaiians in the system than any
other ethnicity, with a20-something percent of our
(12:53):
population being Native Hawaiian.
So something's not right.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Oh, now say that again, that the Native Hawaiian
population are more highlyrepresented.
They're the top representationof foster children, when really
we know, and Governor Green hasrecently stated are more highly
represented, they're the toprepresentation of foster
children, when really we know,and Governor Green has recently
stated that Hawaiians are, bylarge and far the most moving
out of the state and so there'smore Hawaiians outside of the
boundaries of Hawaii and theislands than there are here, and
(13:18):
yet we have more of the fosterchildren.
So that concept again and I'mnot trying to shame or blame,
because we're here to findsolutions and to be ohana to
aloha, but it we need to helpand reach out for those who are
the least of these and the worstof we's then we have what
hawaiians call heva, the wrongthat has been done and we can
(13:38):
see the ramifications or theconsequences of this right.
So how do we help?
Because it almost scares me andI know you're building to where
harvest family life started.
Thank you for saying you've beenin operation for almost 30
years as a family.
Your daughter has even been afoster mom when she turned
around and became of age, andnow your grandparents
(14:00):
congratulations.
Your whole family was into itthen was, was it 13 years ago
you became officially licensedin the state of Hawaii as
Harvest, family Life, rightMinistries, hawaii.
So how, when I hear a storylike you took five kids into a
one bedroom and you had one bath, I'm going to tell you I'm that
frog who jumps into that hotpan of fire and jump right back
(14:22):
out.
I don't think I can do it.
But if Mele, your daughter,could do it, how can the rest of
us take practical steps to dothat?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
I think the bottom line, first and foremost, is, as
believers, god calls some of usto take children into their
home, and this is one of thosethings that agape love always
involves sacrifice.
Jesus demonstrated that for us,and so we have to stop with the
questions of how difficult it'sgoing to be.
(14:51):
Are my kids going to get hurt?
That's reality.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
But if God says do it , we're just supposed to go do
it.
So I know that simplifies, butfaith is supposed to be simple.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, and what's interesting to me is you're
saying it may hurt, there may beconflict in the family, and
that's what happens with blendedor mixed families.
We know that now with a lot ofstep families et cetera.
But guess what?
The hurt is everywhere.
Now I mean that's kind of a badnews.
Good news thing because it'sthe same news there's hurt
everywhere.
So I've heard one of myfavorite podcasters say pick
(15:26):
your difficult.
It's hard to wake up early inthe morning and go work out, but
it's also hard to be overweightand going into the hospital all
the time or taking meds.
So pick your heart.
And so you're going to.
I'm going to pick my hurt.
So how do people get started?
And is there support forfamilies who do foster, who get
licensed?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah.
And so we're here, sitting heresaying there's trouble in
paradise, thank you, thank you,esther.
Who, in your healthy, wonderfulChristian home, wants to bring
brokenness into it?
Well, that's the number one wayto grow your faith, let me tell
you right.
So that was one of the thingsthat we love is helping people
navigate this big system.
So child welfare services is abig system.
(16:06):
How do you get licensed and allthis risk-taking that's
involved?
Well, that's what we love to doat Harvest Family Life is walk
with you through that process.
We've been through it atdifferent times child specific
licensing, general licensing.
We've done different things,you know, and we have good
(16:27):
people that we work with at thestate who are willing and able
to help us, to help you getlicensed for foster care.
Beautiful.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
There's such a different variety of ways to go
through that process.
I think it might be better tojust give the information of how
to contact us.
If we do a pre-service visit,we will come into the home of
the family and talk them through.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I like that because if it's this big, scary thing I
want to help, but it looks likeI have to climb Mauna Loa or
Mauna Kea, 10,000 foot elevation.
But if you help me walk thefirst few steps, I think it's
more doable.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So the pre-visit so if people will just contact us,
we'll go in their home, we'lltalk through everything you just
asked us about and say where doyou fit, because it's a very
personal step that people aretaking.
Thank you, and so we want toone.
The support begins with Harvest, but then we want to help their
local church, support them aswell, because we can't support
(17:23):
5,000 people.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
That's the goal is to have that many homes.
Yes, absolutely, that everychild is, no child left behind.
That's one of the things wechant in Hawaii, doe.
So what is the contact?
Speaker 2 (17:44):
Let's start saying that for people to have, so our
office number is 808-694-0000.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
808-694-0000.
If Hilo High can crack that,one anybody got that one.
And also, you have a greatwebsite, which we're going to
have this flash up on the screenThanks to our great video
editors.
But the website, if I've got itright, is basically the acronym
of your name.
It's Harvest Family Life,hawaii is HFLHIorg, so again,
(18:10):
that's wwwhflhiorg.
Okay, so they can go on there.
What I love about that place,it's real simply laid out.
It's not hard to you knownavigate.
It's all on one page or youclick on something and I can see
where.
If you feel like, okay, well, Ican donate fifty dollars or
five thousand or five dollarsmakes a difference nowadays, um,
(18:33):
you can click on donate and ittakes you either to a QR code or
you have uh texting and youalso have via check.
For those of us who are back inthe Flintstone stone ages and
we love our checks and we writethem.
So thank you for that.
Now, what other supportservices do we provide?
Foster families through harvestfamily life.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
We have something called circles of care, and
that's where I love that parttoo, because it's the church
engagement right, and we'redirecting people to find their
community, their fellowshipwithin the local church.
So there's things like a mealtrain, like, say it's.
We had one family, in fact, theBowen Jessica Nunez out of
Inspire, and they had threechildren and then they adopted
(19:16):
three more.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Wow so adjusting that menu planning.
Speaker 3 (19:20):
and they were not babies, they were like 13, 11,
and 9.
Oh, the growing giants.
Yeah, and two boys and a girlright.
They all eat like adults.
So we started with like a threeto four-month meal train where
there was meals or groceriesbeing dropped off three to four
times in a week to help her withthat adjustment.
We have other things wherewe've had people who are sick,
(19:42):
you know, like foster moms whoare ill or going through
something, and we'll have ayoung adult small group from one
level come out and clean herhouse, do her dishes, pick up
some of her errands that sheneeds to have done.
But the biggest one and this isso appreciated by foster
parents across the state isrespite or babysitting.
(20:02):
We really need respiteproviders and that isn't, you
know, that's kind of like thething of oh, I just want to get
my foot in the door or get mytoe a little wet with you're not
getting licensed for fostercare, but you are impacting the
life of a child as well as theircaregivers.
Yes, and here's the thing Ithink you'll like this little
(20:24):
factoid when you compare thenumber of churches across the
nation, the number of childrenin foster care in the United
States and the number ofcounties, when you put this
little algorithm and you throwthat all in there, if just 10%
of the local Christian,christian, bible-believing,
bible-teaching churches were toget engaged with serving the
(20:45):
foster care system, we woulderadicate all of these needs
probably in about five years.
Holy God and possibly less.
Right, because you put theJesus factor in there and never
mind about the time.
Right?
Just imagine if that churchwere to exponentialized like he
makes that church.
Just imagine if the church wereto rise up and activate in that
way.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Now, thank you for saying that.
That was a big boom-ga-Jesus.
We could eradicate this wholeissue.
5,000 children, you know whowould have moms and dads,
aunties and uncles.
We would have ohana.
I also want to thank you and Iwant to recap that you said if
(21:26):
we could even provide somebabysitting for two to three
hours on a Friday night so momand dad can go and have a meal
without cleaning up six kids,right, or figuring out, it's a,
it's a respite.
It's more than just a rest,it's a respite for the soul.
And then another thing a friendof mine who just passed away
from cancer, and that's PastorTisha Falcon-Leifeld, you know,
she bragged on a friend of herswho came to the house and would
help them just do the laundry.
(21:47):
And that sister friend said I'msorry, sis, this is all I can
do.
And she about cried.
And if you know, tisha, that'spretty par for the course.
But she said, said, havingsomebody come in and do that
laundry for us, and no shame.
Either way, we all have dirtyundies and everything else and
we smell like sweat.
But if we can provide that tothese families, that's a nice.
(22:08):
I like that, just getting mytoe into the baby.
End of the pool.
Thank you for giving us littlefootholds.
Now can you tell us, um, youdid kind of tell us a few
success stories, but, um, what'sa day in the life of HFLM for
you folks Like you?
Just flew back from Kauai whereyou preached at a few churches
you were helping to set up.
I greeted you at the door, toldyou my brother-in-law works up
(22:31):
there.
You said what's his name?
We're taking names.
You know we're going to connectmore partners.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
What's a day in the life of Esther and Brad look
like for being supernaturalsuperheroes.
Girl, it is bathed in prayer.
Wow, it's gotta be inside outand upside down.
Sometimes I just have sermonsplaying in the back.
Yes, I need a good word tosustain us through.
People will say I don't know howyou can listen to child abuse
and neglect and these, the sinof the world, sin, the darkest
house.
To pray yes and then saying yes.
But you know what?
The hope in Jesus, that is whatwe can't take credit for, any
(23:12):
of it.
This is totally a holy spiritsustained.
We can't even explain, like,how did we sleep last night
after all of that?
I mean, yeah, you're exhausted,but also, for me, my brain's
always like going, like, what amI going to do?
Lord Trouble in paradise.
But then he says remember whatI said in Isaiah 61?
You're anointed to bring goodnews.
(23:32):
It's good If the church canjust continue to remember that
we have children and parents.
Their parents need the Lord.
Their parents need this hope,this love.
I fully forgot that.
You know, set the captives free,right, or the prisoners that
will be released.
It's interesting to note thosetwo different categories.
(23:54):
You know, it's like some areindicted of something, they're
carrying some kind of label andthey need to be set free.
Some are held captive.
They're putting their attentionon something and not even
realizing that they're actuallynot in a jail cell.
They're actually walking around, but they're still in some kind
of bondage.
But Jesus said come, that'sgood.
Speaker 2 (24:15):
Let me add on to that because it made me think.
So, those five kids, their mom,the first ones that we took
their mom nine, 10 months.
She did the things that neededto be done.
She brought them home one byone, but through the process she
went with us to a revival at alocal church and she gave her
life to the Lord.
So, that's 22 years ago.
She will tell you, I hated mysocial worker.
(24:39):
That was, you know, I justhated her, but that's the best
thing that ever happened to me.
Jesus saves people.
We know when we hit rock bottomand this is rock bottom for
parents, and so we talk a lotabout that taking it from a
place society has said childwelfare is shame.
God sees shame and showscompassion, and we, as the body
(25:04):
of Christ, have to learn to dothat that is so good.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I forgot about the parents completely because I'm
so focused on the littles, onthe keiki, the children, but
there's a real felt need there.
It calls to mind one of my dearfriends from Waianae.
She was a very success, is avery successful principal at
high schools, but she had sharedher testimony at one point and
said her dad was part of thesyndicate.
(25:29):
She never.
He wasn't part of her life.
He was often gone.
She was abandoned.
She had other family to helpraise her.
But of course we still yearnfor that mother-father figure.
She yearned many years after hegot out of prison.
He said he was sorry and shewas fine with that.
She forgave.
But my point in bringing thatup is that she said my father
(25:50):
never stopped loving me.
He knew he wasn't capable ofbeing my father but he never
stopped loving me.
And so, as you said, brad, tohave compassion for the parents,
because I'm pretty sure thatwhen anyone has a baby for most
human beings we don't have alittle baby and think I can't
wait to abandon you, I can'twait to royally mess up and
(26:14):
totally make you feel like theworst human on earth.
I bet there's no parent and infact.
That breaks something off in myheart right now towards my own
parents.
Thank you for that.
But back to the issue is thatwe are to have compassion for
those who are going through theworst moment, who wanted to
abandon their child Most humansdon't by nature, so thank you
(26:35):
for that, brad.
It's ministering to the wholefamily and that's a lot like
Camp Agape comes to mind, right,with Pastor Roy and Char,
because that ministers tochildren of the incarcerated
people.
They go, auntie Dawn, just sayI'm normal, my parents is in
prison.
Hello, you don't have to sayincarcerated, so I go okay.
Okay, your parents are inprison, prison.
(26:55):
But no parent ever thought, hey, when I, when I wake up today,
I want to be arrested, I want tobe locked up for 10 to 15 and I
want to make sure my childrenfeel like nobody loves them, no
one, ever in their right stateof mind.
So thank you for that reminder.
Now, are there partner churchesthat help you?
Because I saw there's like aclothing store or there's a
(27:17):
store and there's no moneyinvolved for the foster families
.
Can you brag on?
Speaker 3 (27:21):
those partners, that story that he told about the
woman that went to the, therevival that was at um, one of
the baptist churches that is nowinvolved, which is olivet
baptist church.
So they do not house a cocoacloset, but university avenue
baptist, but University AvenueBaptist Church houses a Kukua
Closet.
Yeah, you do, and there ispartnership, right.
The surrounding churches, orany churches, can come and go
(27:45):
through our volunteerorientation and serve at Kukua
Closet, which is a free resourcestore, right, kukua Right, so
there is no charge for ourfamilies that are coming in to
shop on Fridays.
And Central Baptist, which isjust a diagonal from Roosevelt
High School.
They house one that's open onSaturdays.
Kauai Inspirational Fellowshipin Wahiawa will be launching one
(28:06):
in June.
So it's a little church, it's atiny little church, but they
have designated a whole room toserve children.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
Ain't no shame in our little church game.
Come on now.
Might be small of size butmighty of heart and mighty of
miracles.
This is a lot more than I sawon your website, so that's good
news.
It's spreading, there's morepartners coming in and I love
that these families can come in,like if I suddenly that one
family took in three and twoboys.
I don't know that I couldafford to to clothe all these
(28:37):
children or have school supplies, backpacks, cold meds right, if
there's a whole plethora ofneeds that get supplied at these
stores yes, and and especiallylike what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
Well, you have placement all of a sudden.
So we've had people who maybehad older kids or their kids are
already out of the home and nowyou're getting a toddler placed
.
You don't have a crib, likewhat do you do?
So harvest will come and helpyou reconfigure that space to
prepare it, and if you're goingthrough foster care licensing,
we'll do that too.
Like you don't know what yourplacement is going to be, but
we'll help you get beds.
(29:09):
We have partners and newpartners, sweep and heavenly
peace, so they're helping usgetting beds, and that's the
whole thing that we love.
Right is church engagement, aswell as bringing on other
agencies and other communitypartners, all for the sake of
our Kiki, and I love thatthere's different entry points
for all of us in the communityis what I'm hearing.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Like I could be a person who volunteers at the
stores the Kokua store or Icould be a person who's
supplying furniture Right,there's a lot of different entry
points again, pukas, that wecould place Now.
Another question I had for youfolks is are there other things
to support the families that wedidn't talk about?
(29:52):
Foster families, other services?
Speaker 2 (29:54):
The one thing that I would highlight with that.
We have a technology tool thatwe brought to the state of
Hawaii in 2018 called CarePortal.
Care Portal is in 38 states now, I believe, and it basically
child welfare professionalsthose who are serving vulnerable
children can go on the website,put in a need that they may
(30:16):
have crib, bunk, bed, whateverthe case may be and tell a
little bit of the story aboutthe family, because people give
from their hearts, not theirhead, within confidentiality
guidelines, and then when theyclick submit.
In Kona right now, there areabout 500 Christians from 10
different churches who will getan email nicely formatted saying
(30:39):
here's the need, here's how youcan help, and then if they say
I want to help and they gothrough the process of filling
stuff out, it then connects themto that worker who put the need
in.
On Oahu, there are about 600Christians from 20 churches.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Holy, that's awesome.
So this was through Care Portal.
Yes, awesome, genius.
This is technology being usedfor God's greater good.
I love that.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
Hundreds of children and Department of Education has
been using it almost three yearsnow.
Wonderful, it's amazing.
From graduation cap and gown,prom bids, cleaning things,
cleaning things you know it allcomes under the education of
homeless children and youthprogram.
So we're really, really excitedabout that because, yes, we are
meeting needs of keiki o kaaina.
(31:27):
But what about that liaisonthat's at doe who's running all
around trying to take care ofall their different families and
and children?
We say come to cocoa closet.
Why don't you pick up somethings for yourself, not just
for your clients?
Wow, you're doing this work andyou're not doing it for the big
bucks.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
There's any way that we surprise, surprise, the state
of hawaii doesn't pay all thatmuch, especially to our dear
beloved social workers.
Thank you for blessing them andthat ministers to their heart,
because that is a concern.
And we want to two, two things.
I want to state Thank you forbringing that up, esther that
you folks work hand in hand withthe state departments, right
(32:07):
With child welfare services andall these other department of
human services.
I think it is so.
Thank you for that.
And then the other thing ismaintaining joy.
The joy of the Lord is ourstrength and you mentioned that
earlier and you mentioned itagain just now.
How do we maintain our joy whenyou're looking at and working
in this area that can be likethe cesspit of humanity, like if
(32:30):
you're that blessed person whogoes down into the sewage pipes
and rescues?
You know people who are stuckin that system.
How do you keep your joy?
And you've been blessing otherpeople who aren't even in
churches, they're in statedepartments, but that's where
I'm going to come in for alanding with the two of you.
Thank you for doing that.
How do you keep your joy?
(32:51):
You said you bathe yourself ininside out prayer and worship,
worship music.
But it's.
Speaker 3 (32:57):
You know, we, we get the honor of being here on your
show, right, but along with usis hundreds of people, other
ministry workers, people, butand I think about our church,
ohana, we're part of bayviewchapel assembly of god.
Our pastor, rene Rene Lo, andBrother Alex them, giving us
(33:19):
this like releasing us into thecommunity, not saying, oh, you
got to be here every Sunday.
Like, they understand our call,they uplift us in prayer.
They're just a phone call or atext away.
It's all of the differentpeople that are in this.
I call them the Harvest Ohana,our board members, our board
members.
There was a time when I wasbringing a message on Mother's
(33:40):
Day and I was so sick and fourprayers came in Boom, boom, boom
, boom, boom.
And then it was like one moretime of just this bout of nausea
and vomiting and then it wasdone.
You know we experience thosethings on a daily basis that we
recognize.
There's other people who areupholding our arms yeah, that we
get to be on this show.
But there's all these peoplewho are serving children across
(34:02):
the state, right, and prayingand putting the word out and
giving them the word of God andbeing agents of hope.
You know, amen.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I think God not I think I know God supernaturally
one gives us a margin for thekind of pain that we see, that
not everybody has, and that'swhen he calls us.
You know, we say that when hecalls you he equips you, and
that's true, but the way that heequips are in ways that we
never would have thought.
That's that idea that we cansee that stuff, and not that it
(34:33):
doesn't break our hearts, but itdoesn't break our hearts to a
place where they can't be mended.
So it breaks our heart.
And then the Holy Spirit stepsin and says okay, here's
solutions, and while you work onsolutions, I'm going to mend
that heart and you won't evenknow what's going on.
So I think that joy comes fromobviously supernatural work with
(34:59):
the Holy Spirit and then beingable to hang on to the stories,
some of which we've told you thegood stories, because there's a
lot of good stories out there.
Even though it's a place ofugliness and brokenness, god is
always at work.
Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:13):
So we hang on to those good stories and that
brings us joy constantly.
Speaker 1 (35:18):
That's beautiful.
I'm going to share a quickmemory and I won't compromise
the child's name, but we weretogether at your Harvest Family
Life Christmas celebration thispast year.
I had the honor of emceeing andthere was a young man there
from a school who recognized meas Auntie Dawn from Choose Aloha
program and he goes Auntie Dawn, could I, could I say something
(35:40):
on the mic with you?
And you know you get that a lotand I'm not trying to encourage
that with all children, but hewas really an articulate young
man.
You're remembering who I was,who I am talking of.
And he was adopted into orbeing fostered by a Samoan
family and you know, forwhatever reason, this was their
only child, as far as I couldsee.
(36:01):
Uh, and, and Samoan families.
What I love about them, as withmany local families, they
always wear matching attireright, whether it's the Samoan
attire or Aloha attire, whateverit is, and they had their
matching I think it was MissingPolynesia brand.
And the young boy also had hismatching with dad and with mom
(36:21):
and they were so proud of himwhen he came up on stage to
co-MC with me and he wanted tobe so helpful.
He's such a good boy, but youcould tell the love of that mom
and that dad and the dad morequiet, right, but the mom, she
had her camera up, they werefilming.
Can we get a picture with you,auntie Dawn?
But there's that nest of lovethat a child needs, that if it
(36:46):
is cast out of the nest tooquickly, as many are in the
foster system, it can hardentheir hearts and we know that
Jesus talks about a hardenedheart of stone and how he has to
transform that back into flesh.
But you could see that not onlywas this child having such a
warm, beating heart of alofatalofa ofa right and he's coming
(37:10):
up strong in that Samoan way,but you could see it in his
parents, in his foster parents.
And now, because of what yousaid about my forgetting the
family, the original biologicalfamily, now I'm praying for that
little boy's parents, his biofamily, and it's a win for the
boy, it's a win for the fosterfamily, it's a win for that bio
(37:31):
family that's not forgotten andit's a win for God.
That bio family that's notforgotten and it's a win for God
.
It's win, win, win.
Aloha always wins.
So thank you both.
Can we give the contact again?
I know the website.
I'll get that for us808-694-0000.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
And our website is wwwhflhiorg.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
And again, this is Harvest Family Life Ministries.
This is dear friends, brad andEsther McDaniel.
Their whole family becameinvolved with foster care from
an early age in a very authentic, natural way.
Please know that at this timein 2025, that there are 5,000
children in need of our Aloha.
(38:26):
But when we choose Aloha asthat young and I'll just call
him a brown kid the brown kidsaw with his family, thenoha
always wins and we can wintogether, even if it's an hour
on a friday night that you'regonna babysit for them and give
respite to a foster family, ormaybe it's some furniture going
(38:46):
in there, or maybe it's adonation to the kukua stores
right, I didn't hear that, butwe could do that as well.
Donating and then, if also cashis always it's not king,
because jesus is king, but ifyou want to donate that, that's
also online on their website hflhighorg.
Thank you again.
Mcdaniel's is is.
I love you and thank you forbeing the supernatural superhero
(39:08):
and super shiro of aloha.
Thank you, thank you forhappiness.
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