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Thousands of kids missing in Maui? Officials say only one is confirmed | Fact check

Hannah Hudnall   Paste BN

The claim: More than 1,000 children are missing in Maui

A Sept. 11 Facebook video (direct link, archive link) features a screen recording of a TikTok video that shows aerial footage of a road filled with burnt cars.

"Over 1,000 children are missing," a man narrates over the video. "They have no clue where these children are."

The post garnered more than 100 shares in one day. Similar versions of the claim, which suggest the number of missing children is more than 2,000, have been shared on Facebook, Instagram and X, formerly Twitter.

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Our rating: False

Hundreds of students have not enrolled in Maui public schools following August wildfires, but that does not mean they are missing, officials said. Only 66 people are confirmed to be missing, one of whom is a minor, according to officials.

Only 1 child listed as missing in Maui, not 1,000

Hundreds of students remain unenrolled in Maui public schools after the wildfires killed at least 115 people and leveled more than 2,000 acres of land.

This doesn't mean the students are missing, however.

The FBI and Maui Police Department released a list of 66 unaccounted-for people on Sept. 9. Only one was labeled a minor.

One of the public schools in Lahaina "was damaged beyond repair" by the fires, while the other three continue to undergo environmental assessments and tests for stable power and broadband connectivity, according to a Sept. 13 post on the Hawaii State Department of Education website. In the meantime, the department has designated temporary alternative schools and distance learning hubs for students.

Nanea Kalani, a spokesperson for the department, told Paste BN that of the 3,000 students who had originally enrolled in the four schools before the fires, 782 students enrolled in other Department of Education schools, 907 enrolled in or are on the waitlist for distance learning and 330 enrolled in charter or private schools. About 980 students have not transferred elsewhere or applied for distance learning.

Superintendent Keith Hayashi shared these statistics in a Sept. 7 board of education meeting. Hayashi said there were about 48 families they had not been able to reach.

Kalani said the department has called more than 1,100 families and is actively working to contact the remaining families.

"The Department is actively reaching out to contact families for the remainder of students who have not yet enrolled in an option, knowing that some may have moved out of state or paused their child's education for the time being," said Kalani in an email. The department's "community liaisons on the ground have been connecting with families in shelters, at family resource centers, resource fairs and the like to check in with families and help support their overall and educational needs."

Fact check: No bodies washed up on shore following Maui wildfires, officials say

Gov. Josh Green's office and Jon Heggie, a spokesperson for the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency's Maui Joint Information Center, told Lead Stories the claim that thousands of children are missing is false.

"We have a confirmed missing persons of 66 at this time," Heggie told the outlet. "We are not releasing which ones are children but they are a variety of ages."

Heggie added that the 2,025 students who had not re-enrolled in another public school or opted for distance learning as of August 21 have "nothing to do with the actual number of confirmed missing, which still stands at 66."

Green's office directed Paste BN to the Department of Education for comment. Paste BN reached out to the Maui Emergency Management Agency and the Facebook user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response. The TikTok user couldn't be contacted.

The claim has also been debunked by PolitiFact.

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