HONOLULU — Governing has selected Hawai'i Human Services Director Lillian Koller a "Public Official of the Year" for what the magazine cited as her leadership in bringing about widespread improvements at the state Department of Human Services over the past five years, including an overhaul of the child welfare system.

This is the first time a public official from Hawai'i has won the national award, which Governing magazine will present to Koller and seven other honorees at a ceremony scheduled for Nov. 12 in Washington, D.C., according to a news release issued by Koller's office.

"This award brings national attention to the progress we have achieved in transforming DHS," Gov. Linda Lingle said in the news release. "Through the hard work of Lillian Koller, DHS employees and our community partners statewide, the most vulnerable men, women and children of Hawai'i are leading safer and happier lives."

The number of children in state foster care is now at a 15-year low. In the past five years alone, the number of children in foster care has decreased by 43 percent, from about 3,000 children in 2003 to 1,700 children today — the lowest number since 1993, according to the news release.

Hawai'i now has one of the lowest rates of child re-abuse in the country, the release said. Hawai'i's child re-abuse rate dropped by nearly three-fold from 6 percent in 2003 to just 2.2 percent, which is far better than the nationally accepted standard of 6.1 percent.

Prior to implementing this new direction in 2003, DHS removed children from their biological families at up to four times the national average with no improvement in their safety.