The Hawaiʻi Department of Human Services reported that it had been unable to confirm maltreatment reports of another child in the household before Sarai Perez-Rivera died of starvation and dehydration in June.

Janae Perez and Ashleigh Utley were arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder and several other charges.

The state’s Child Welfare Services has not explained its actions — or lack of action — in the case of a 3-year-old killed in June. Her grandmother says she warned the state that the girl and her siblings were being starved.

Some child abuse cases garner publicity and trigger outrage. But because of the state’s secrecy, others never even come to light.

A close look at a new $600,000 settlement by the Department of Human Services reveals the child welfare bureaucracy’s shortcomings. It’s just the latest big award.

Judge Matthew Viola admitted that the public has an interest in how the state and Family Court placed Isabella Kalua with the parents accused of killing her.

The boy lived for five years in the Wahiawa home of Thomas and Brandy Blas and like Geanna suffered severe abuse and neglect, the complaint says.

In the absence of legislative oversight, litigation is one of the few ways to find out what went wrong.

Two bills already approved by their respective houses aim to correct a longtime shortcoming, though it remains to be seen if it’s the right approach.

The only way to prevent this horror from being repeated is by publicly dissecting exactly what went wrong.