AUGUSTA – In the wake of the deaths of several young Maine children, and the subsequent criminal charging of their parents with their deaths, Sen. Bill Diamond, D-Windham, renewed his call for reform of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Maine’s child welfare system.
“My heart is broken for these poor, innocent children, who endured a degree of suffering nobody should have to experience. There is no excuse for our continued inaction on child welfare reform – children are losing their lives as a result. Every time we experience a tragedy like this, or a series of tragedies as is happening now and as happened in 2017-2018, we pledge to do better and to make necessary changes. The deaths of these three young children prove that our past actions have not been sufficient,” said Sen. Diamond. “Why did more children need to die at the hands of their parents before DHHS acts on the systemic problems they have been warned about time and again? Maine’s Child Welfare Services Ombudsman has done incredible work in pointing out weaknesses in the system, and ignoring their recommendations will continue to cost Maine children their lives. This year, DHHS opposed my bill to create a separate Department of Child and Family Services, which would have given us the opportunity to create a more robust and transparent agency. In their opposition, they said that problems are being addressed. That’s simply not good enough.”
In its 2020 annual report, the Ombudsman’s office details how the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) continues to struggle to fully protect Maine children in two key areas. The Ombudsman found that OCFS struggles with determining the safety of a child in the home during initial investigations. The Office also struggles to make informed decisions about if it is safe to reunify the children with his or her parents.
On May 31, a six-week-old baby boy in Brewer was brought to the hospital after having been shaken violently, and he died a day later. His father, Ronald Harding, has been charged with manslaughter in the boy’s death. On June 6, three-year-old Hailey Ann Goding of Old Town died after her mother reported her unresponsive at home. The mother, Hillary Goding, has been charged with manslaughter in her death; the girl had reportedly previously needed medical attention after being exposed to drugs by her mother. On June 20, three-year-old Maddox Williams of Stockton Springs died after being taken to the hospital, unresponsive, by his mother and grandmother. His mother, Jessica Williams, has been charged with his murder. Reporting has detailed the horrific injuries inflicted upon Maddox, as well as shock by neighbors that the young boy was left his in mother’s care. OCFS involvement in these cases, if any, has not been made public.
This year, Sen. Diamond introduced a bill that would take OCFS out from under DHHS, creating a separate Department of Child and Family Services with the goal of directing more resources toward protecting Maine children. The bill was opposed by DHHS, and though it received bipartisan support in the Senate, it did not receive sufficient support in the Maine House to become law.
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. Sen. Diamond also attended the trials and sentencing hearings for the 2017 murder of four-year-old Kendall Chick of Wiscasset, and the 2018 murder of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy of Stockton Springs. DHHS had placed Kendall Chick in the home where she was ultimately killed, and had failed to adequately investigate reports and other signs of Marissa Kennedy’s abuse leading up to her death.