Oversight panel suggests more than two dozen reforms for Maine child welfare system

Government Oversight Committee held a press conference on Friday, May 10 at the Maine State House to share its suggested reforms for child welfare in the state. (AnnMarie Hilton/Maine Morning Star)

In the six years Sen. Lisa Keim (R-Oxford) has served on the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, she said child welfare has been an area of focus every year. But the department that houses the system has only gotten worse in that time, she said. 

It’s only in the past two years, though, that Keim said the committee has “really pulled back the covers.”

That years-long investigation into the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) — housed within the Department of Health and Human Services — culminated in a roughly 70-page report with suggested improvements that was shared at a news conference Friday at the State House. The 28 suggested reforms seek to improve upon the untenable work conditions cited by case workers and the agency’s failure to keep children in their custody safe.  

The committee’s Senate co-chair Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) praised the bipartisan nature of the recommendations and said he hopes the report will “be a springboard for further action.”

Most of the suggestions were supported by all 12 members of the committee. All of them had bipartisan support. Four of the recommendations correspond with pieces of legislation proposed this session, but all of those are still in limbo. A proposal from Keim to create a pilot project for recruiting and retaining more case aides was removed from the appropriations table and passed in the Senate Friday, but as of Friday at 5 p.m. is pending a vote in the House. 

While many of the recommendations could be implemented by the department without legislative action, they will still take time to produce tangible results. Some of the suggestions target systemic problems such as a lack of access to the legal resources and mental health supports. 

“Many of the recommendations in this report will likely take some time to bear fruit at a time when we need immediate results and this is a challenging truth to face,” said Rep. Jessica Fay (D-Raymond). 

The Department of Health and Human Services shared a blog post Thursday listing the ways it has taken action to improve the child welfare system. Understaffing emerged as a key issue in OCFS, but the department said vacancies have dropped by 40% since the start of this year from 111 to 65. 

The department was not present for the news conference. 

The report has been publicly discussed by the committee for months, with the final version available back in late February, but the news conference came just three days after the Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew announced she is stepping down to join a think tank in Washington, D.C. 

Keim described Lambrew’s departure as an “opportunity” and said she hopes Gov. Janet Mills will use it to find someone more focused on human services. 

“I do believe that Commissioner Lambrew failed the people of Maine with the Office of Child and Family Services and that we may have an opportunity here that I hope we seize,” Keim said. 

Keim said Lambrew was at times reluctant to talk with the Government Oversight Committee. As a result, it was the public testimony from foster parents and frontline workers that truly illuminated the issues plaguing the department, whether it be insufficient resources or unmanageable workloads. 

During committee meetings, Sen. Jeff Timberlake (R-Androscoggin) expressed frustration with the lack of tangible improvements after years and years of talking about the child welfare system’s decline. 

That’s why he put forth a bill to separate OCFS from DHHS, claiming that the agency is too large to properly manage everything under its purview. It passed the Senate with a bipartisan vote of 22-8, but wasn’t taken up by the House. Technically, this is not one of the recommended reforms from the Government Oversight Committee because only six members were in support, which is less than a majority. 

Hickman said he doesn’t believe the recommendations shared Friday are going to be just another set of ideas gathering dust on the shelf. It is the committee’s job to continue pressing DHHS leadership, including the new commissioner, to implement necessary reforms, Hickman said. However, he did acknowledge the department is already updating the committee regularly on the work it is doing to make improvements.

The post Oversight panel suggests more than two dozen reforms for Maine child welfare system appeared first on Maine Morning Star.