MA'ILI, Hawaii -- For Hawaii's abused and neglected children who are now in foster care, life is often still difficult as they are jerked from one foster home to another.

On Saturday, a facility opened on the Leeward Coast dedicated to keeping foster children in one place with their siblings until a loving, permanent home can be found.

The new state home was made possible by the support of a generous multi-millionaire who said he had an unhappy childhood.

The Children's Receiving Center is in the state's Villages of Ma'ili homeless shelter area. Planners say the new facility will be a safe place to stay for children removed from their homes until they can be placed with a relative or put into more permanent situation.

The facility will open April 1 and serve about 200 children a year.

"This will, for this coast, provide a place for children to be placed with their brothers and sisters in the same facility. Hopefully, they will be able to go to the same schools. There will just be less trauma involved," Family Programs Hawaii President Linda Santos said.

Mike Wood of Hawaii Self Storage donated $1.2 million to build the facility and will donate another $8 million to operate the center over the next 20 years.

"I think we all need to give something back," he said. "I have been very fortunate."

Wood said he is sympathetic to the plight of displaced children because his own childhood was unhappy.

Jackie Gamboa on Saturday admired the clean, inviting bedrooms.

When she was 11, Gamboa was moved to four different foster homes and in and out of seven different schools.

"It was hard to make friends, and then when I finally did make friends, I moved again. It was really unstable having to move to different people's home, like complete strangers -- even that was hard. I kind of kept to myself. I had to feel my foster parents out until I was comfortable. It was hard."

The 10-bedroom facility accommodates 15 children at a time. It has its own medical facility and a big playroom-dining room.

The Children's Receiving Home is the first of its kind in the state. Supporters are hoping there can be at least six to eight of these homes in the state in the future.