AUGUSTA – On Tuesday, Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, introduced a bill to better protect Maine’s children by creating the Department of Child and Family Services. LD 1263, “An Act To Create a Separate Department of Child and Family Services,” was the subject of a public hearing in front of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee.
“After every tragedy, we promise to fix the system,” said Sen. Diamond. “We’ve been making these promises for a long time, and yet kids continue to suffer. We know that there are still significant issues with how child abuse cases are handled. Creating this new department will dedicate more resources towards fixing those issues. We all say that this is a priority for us; it’s time our actions reflect that by making a real investment in child and family services.”
LD 1263 would create a separate Department of Child and Family Services by transferring the functions of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) that relate to child and family services and child welfare to the new department. The new department would have a commissioner appointed by the governor. LD 1263 also establishes provisions for transferring functions to the new department.
Maine’s Child Welfare Ombudsman issues an independent evaluation of the Office of Child and Family Services’ work every year. The Ombudsman’s 2020 report found ongoing problems with caseworkers’ ability to conduct initial safety assessments and investigations, as well as flaws in the ongoing assessments of open cases and reunification efforts. As of Sept. 30, 2020, 2,362 children were in state custody.
Maine has seen several high-profile and tragic cases of children being murdered despite DHHS involvement in their care. Most recently, this includes the 2017 murder of four-year-old Kendall Chick and the 2018 murder of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy. DHHS had placed Kendall Chick in the home where she was ultimately killed. In Marissa Kennedy’s case, DHHS failed to adequately investigate reports and other signs of abuse leading up to her death. Sen. Diamond attended the trials and sentencing hearings for both cases. Sen. Diamond’s involvement in seeking solutions to child abuse and neglect began in 2001, when five-year-old Logan Marr was found dead in her foster mother’s basement.
LD 1263 faces further action in committee.