As your representative, I can’t think of a responsibility that weighs heavier than the wellbeing and safety of the kids in our community and throughout the state. It’s our shared responsibility, not just among public officials and parents, but all of us. Maine people care deeply about our children and, because of that, we need to take a hard look at how we handle child welfare and how we can make the system better.
The last time Maine overhauled our child welfare system was after the 2001 death of five-year-old Logan Marr while she was in foster care. It was something that never should have happened. The state took Logan out of her mother’s home only to place her in a fatally dangerous situation. After the tragedy of Logan’s death, reforms were put into place, including more supervisory and casework staff, quality targets for safely reducing the number of children in care, increased family and community involvement and a commitment to placing children with relatives. After these reforms were implemented, Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services was praised as among the best in the country.
Tragically, as we all found out last year, that’s not where the story ends. Sixteen years after Logan’s death, two Maine girls, Marissa Kennedy and Kendall Chick, died at the hands of their caregivers, even after involvement from OCFS at multiple points. We all want to know what went so wrong that cost Marissa and Kendall their lives.
The Department of Health and Human Services is conducting an internal investigation, and the Legislature has asked the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability to investigate as well.
What seems clear is that a system that was working well a decade ago has buckled under short-staffing and increased caseloads for child protective workers. In the first year of Governor LePage’s first term, the number of child protective workers in Maine dropped while the ones who remained saw their caseloads double.
These workers must have the support and compensation they need to do what is a challenging job under the best of circumstances. DHHS’s proposal to hire 75 more caseworkers is a good start, but it can’t wait for new training to be implemented. We need them yesterday, and we need to raise wages for all child protective caseworkers.
I’ve had the opportunity to speak with two state workers on the front lines of our child welfare system. They both confirmed that there is a significant lack of temporary homes to place children when they are removed. One worker sat for hours with a child in a car while they waited for a temporary placement.
The governor recently suggested that the state should abandon the practice of working with families to keep kids at home whenever possible. Of course, staying in an unsafe situation is never in the best interest of a child, but when caseworkers have manageable caseloads, they are able to get families the help they need to stay together. Keeping children at home whenever possible and placing them with relatives when it’s not was a key reform that came from Logan’s death. Instead of simply repealing this evidence-based reform, we should give department staff the resources they need to make this policy work as it was intended.
We also need to look at factors that may be contributing to the increase of cases of child abuse and neglect around the state. The rise in the number of parents struggling with opiate use is a problem we have to address. They need access to proven treatment. Expanding MaineCare as approved by Maine voters will help.
Under the governor’s watch, the number of Maine kids living in deep poverty has grown at eight times the national rate. Cutting support for these kids has done nothing to keep them safe. As part of last year’s biennial budget, I supported a package that will help families living in poverty build a better life for their kids.
If you believe a child is in danger, please call 1-800-452-1999 to report it. Let’s work together to keep Maine kids safe from harm.
Rep. Maureen “Mo” Terry is serving her first term in the Maine House of Representatives. She is a chef and small business owner with more than 25 years of experience in the food service industry. She serves on the Taxation Committee.
(207) 712-9735 | (800) 423-2900 | maureen.terry@legislature.maine.gov