HONOLULU, Hawaii -- A federal judge in Honolulu ruled Monday that the state of Hawaii is not doing enough to locate and educate homeless children.

The judge issued the injunction against the state as a part of a federal civil rights lawsuit, saying the Department of Education must do more to find homeless children and bus them to school.

Lawyers for Equal Justice and the ACLU are representing eight homeless children and their mothers. They said there are thousands of so-called "hidden homeless" in Hawaii, with hundreds of school-age children not being served by the Department of Education, as federal law requires.

The attorneys argued in court that the state has failed to help homeless children enroll.

"Right now, they admit they only go to a handful of shelters. They don't go to the domestic violence shelter," said Paul Alston, attorney for Lawyers for Equal Justice. "The last time anybody went to the beach to find kids there was three years ago. They just don't do the job."

The state argued it does provide for homeless children on a case-by-case basis.

Alice Greenwood, who lives in a shelter with her 7-year-old, said she wants him to stay in the same school but said it's too far away. The state argued it gives students free bus passes, but some complain young kids can't ride the bus alone.

"My son says the bus driver will not allow me to enter that bus, and when a person asked him why he said, 'Because I'm young; because of my age the bus driver will not let me enter the bus,'" said Greenwood, a plaintiff in the case.

There will be a hearing in federal court to work out the details of exactly what the state must do to comply with federal law.