Walk a Mile in Their Shoes continues to get reports from stakeholders across Maine. That feedback centers around impermanence, poor caseworker retention, mistreating placement resources, and allowing children to be subjected to inappropriate conditions. The letter below was sent to OCFS Director Bobbi Johnson.
December 3, 2024
Dear Director Johnson,
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes continues to field serious concerns from stakeholders regarding shortfalls in Maine’s child welfare system. While we hear news reports that improvements are being made, problems are still being brought to our attention. As a non-profit committed to preventing the abuse and homicide of children with CPS involvement, we believe it will be helpful to you and your staff if we make you aware of four themes that are consistent in our interactions with your employees and parties with vested interests. These are: impermanence, poor caseworker retention, mistreating placement resources, and allowing children to be subjected to inappropriate conditions.
Children deserve stability, so permanence should be a high priority. We have received a report that children are being returned to parents with extensive domestic violence, unsheltered, substance use, and CPS history. We are also getting firsthand reports that investigations are not being completed in timeframes set by policy further complicating consistency in children’s lives. GALs, caseworkers, law enforcement, public school personnel, and daycare providers are expressing frustration with certain segments of the judiciary.
Caseworker retention is an ongoing problem. When caseworkers resign, there are periods that children go without direct and individualized OCFS oversight. Disruptions negatively affect timetables causing kids to go without permanency longer. This can also influence the trajectory of the case to the detriment of the child. Required overtime due to placing children in hotels and emergency rooms is still happening on a regular basis which as we all know is unsustainable. Caseworkers need downtime to recharge and maintain work-life balance. We’ve heard that supervisors are now serving in caseworker roles in addition to their regular responsibilities.
Placement resources are being overlooked and mistreated. In one case, a qualified kinship placement has been passed up which appears to run counter to existing department policy. A set of foster parents have also been placed in limbo by an abuse investigation. The recent federal inspector general audit of OCFS flagged investigations not being completed within 35 days and not notifying parents and caregivers within 10 days of the finding. We continually hear from placement resources that mistreatment causes them to want to discontinue working with OCFS.
Children are being subjected to traumatizing and potentially unhealthy conditions. Domestic violence victims are losing their children hurting both parties. Fearful children are being required to interact with their abusers. Children are being returned to parents without stable housing. We have also received a report that caseworkers are making pleas for “home cooked” meals for children housed in hotels making us ask the question, “What is the policy for providing healthy and nutritious meals for children in direct OCFS supervision?”
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes and the Maine Office of Child and Family Services have a common interest in improving outcomes for some of Maine’s most vulnerable children. We will continue our outreach with stakeholders, following necessary improvements to the system, and measuring outcomes through research. We’re reaching out to you because we believe that if you and Walk a Mile in Their Shoes can work together, we can make a positive difference. Thank you for your ongoing efforts, we stand ready to share information we receive to help build a better system for our vulnerable children.
Regards,
Bill Diamond, Founder
Walk a Mile in Their Shoes