New Website Supports Sexual Assault Survivors

The state Attorney Generalʻs office has announced the launch of a new website to connect sexual assault survivors with support services under Project Mālama Kākou, an initiative providing solutions for sexual assault evidence collection kits.

Project Mālama Kākou was created in 2016 under Act 207, joining a statewide multidisciplinary team of victim service providers, crime lab personnel, police officials, and prosecutors to reforming the testing of sexual assault kits in Hawai‘i with care and attention focused on victims.

The website offers services for sexual assault survivors who had a kit collected but do not know if it was tested for DNA evidence. Survivors may call their local police department, or go to the website to determine the status of their kits. The website also provides a listing of local support service providers for survivors.

Attorney General Doug Chin said: “Connecting survivors with support services through Project Mālama Kākou is critical to empowering them and fulfilling the commitment to a victim-centered approach to the testing of sexual assault kits in Hawai‘i.”

“Our Mālama Kākou team knows that information heals and wants to provide easy access to the most accurate and updated information possible,” said Dani Riggs, clinical director of Child and Family Services at Maui Sexual Assault Center. “We want to make sure that anyone impacted by the work of our project team gets the best care and most compassionate treatment possible.”

The website includes a description of Project Mālama Kākou, a listing of frequently asked questions, a dashboard tallying the number of kits submitted for testing, information on survivor notification, and related information and services.