Earlier this month, the independent agency responsible for overseeing Maine’s child welfare department expressed her exasperation during a presentation to the legislative government oversight committee. Over the years, she has consistently highlighted lingering issues within the agency’s child protection investigations, but she noted that limited progress has been made.
“I don’t take pleasure in having to essentially present the same report every year,” said Maine Child Welfare Ombudsman Christine Alberi during her January 10 report. “The issues faced by the department have not truly improved.”
The issues outlined in her report included a troubling series of deficiencies within the Department of Health and Human Services’ child welfare office—such as inadequate investigations, failure to recognize risks, poor monitoring of safety plans, and numerous administrative oversights. Other concerns included a malfunctioning software system, a shortage of attorneys for parents, and insufficient family support services.
Alberi’s report illustrated various instances where allegations of abuse were either not promptly investigated or addressed adequately. Children were found to remain in hazardous situations post-investigation, or were unexpectedly placed in unsafe settings after being removed from their homes.
Sen. Jeff Timberlake (R-Androscoggin), who serves as the ranking Republican on the oversight committee, expressed his frustration, stating, “In four years serving on this committee, everything the department has requested, from funding to additional resources, has been provided.” He then probed Alberi on the barriers hindering the department from enhancing its training and operational practices.
“I wish I could pinpoint the exact reasons,” Alberi responded. “There’s a lack of personnel available for training and insufficient time to conduct it.”
The conversation emphasized the necessity for Maine’s child protection infrastructure to expand, implying that additional workers and training are essential for more effectively eliminating children from unsafe environments.
However, a recent federal report has emerged, revealing that Maine has been investigating allegations of abuse and neglect at a significantly higher rate than most other states but is not necessarily ensuring greater safety for the children involved.
The 2023 child maltreatment data from the federal Department of Health and Human Services corroborates earlier findings indicating Maine’s child welfare actions differ from national trends. Specifically, while cases are being investigated and children are being removed at increasing rates, most states have been trending in the opposite direction—reducing both investigations and removals.
The latest federal data on foster care indicates that the national foster care population decreased by 15% from 2018 to 2022, while Maine’s foster care population surged by nearly 40% during the same timeframe. Last year saw the highest number of children in state custody in Maine over the past two decades.
Advocates are arguing that the issues in Maine arise not from a lack of investigation but from the overwhelming volume of cases, which obscures the identification of genuine threats to children. “Policymakers often ask why, after our agency has added numerous case workers and funding, are children still facing dangers?” remarked Melissa Hackett, a policy associate at the Maine Children’s Alliance. “The issue stems from an overloaded system.”
Hackett elaborated that excessive case inflow can lead to families being involved unnecessarily, compromising the identification of truly at-risk families. “The focus needs to be on defining an appropriate role for the agency,” she asserted.
This perspective revolves around the concept of “narrowing the front door,” which proposes that not all poverty cases equate to neglect. However, such discourse was notably absent from the recent legislative hearing. Concern about the opposite trend in Maine’s child welfare actions was similarly overlooked.
Alberi expressed her apprehension to The Monitor regarding the notion of reducing investigations. “What matters most is making correct decisions based on available data at that moment, rather than simply limiting the number of cases,” she stated.
The analysis of federal data has revealed that Maine ranks second in the nation for child maltreatment rates, following Massachusetts. Nevertheless, experts caution against direct state comparisons due to variabilities in how different states define abuse and neglect.
Maine parents aren’t necessarily more prone to abusing or neglecting their children compared to parents in other states; rather, the state’s Office of Child and Family Services is identifying a higher number of maltreatment cases. This is supported by an acknowledgment from the department and advocacy groups that Maine’s definitions of abuse and neglect may be more expansive than those employed in other regions.
Department spokesperson Lindsay Hammes highlighted that findings can still occur even if actual harm has not been substantiated. For example, if a parent drives intoxicated with their child, a maltreatment finding can be made despite no immediate harm being present.
Moreover, Maine is one of the few states that categorizes findings into “substantiated” and the less severe “indicated” classifications, with about 40% of Maine’s maltreatment findings being indicated. Parent attorney Taylor Kilgore noted that these indicated findings often pertain to poverty-related circumstances. “Our definitions seem overly broad, with indications playing into this broadness,” Kilgore emphasized.
While 27 states have laws ensuring that poverty is not equated with neglect, Maine is not one of them. However, Hammes indicated that a steering committee has been assembled to address these definitions and is exploring potential statutory revisions to clarify that poverty, in isolation, should not signify neglect.
Maine has a reputation for high rates of reporting suspected abuse or neglect. In a recent study of 44 states, Maine boasted the fifth-highest rate of child welfare referrals in 2023, yielding 106.9 referrals per 1,000 children—representing more than one report for every ten children in the state. Additionally, it had the third-highest rate of referrals that were not deemed investigable.
For mandated reporters, Maine laws require immediate reporting not only of known instances of abuse but also of situations suspected to lead to future abuse. As a result, Maine investigates a higher rate of cases than most states after filtering out unverifiable reports. Despite these high rates of inquiry, there’s a notable gap in the delivery of post-investigation services to victims, with only 24.2% of identified victims receiving assistance—less than half the national average.
Hammes explained that the inadequacy in service delivery is partly due to the structure of Maine’s system when it comes to tracking services provided by contracted agencies.
In discussing potential policy shifts, Sarah Catherine Williams, a senior research scientist, suggests that examining state-level changes could provide insights. For instance, Texas recently enacted a refined definition of neglect, resulting in a significant decrease in foster care placements. This change permitted alternative responses to families, which did not necessitate removal.
Experts like Jill Duerr Berrick stress that any changes to definitions must also factor in the provision of adequate resources for families in poverty, ensuring they receive the necessary support without automatically being subject to abuse investigations.
According to federal statistics, New Jersey experienced the lowest maltreatment rate in the country, in stark contrast to Maine, whose rate was ten times higher. New Jersey’s investigations generally yield low abuse findings, reflecting a different approach focused on maintaining family unity and offering service support.
In 2023, New Jersey concluded over two decades of federal oversight regarding its child protection system, shifting emphasis towards family preservation instead of removals. With a significantly lower child fatality rate linked to maltreatment than Maine, New Jersey demonstrates the potential effectiveness of alternative strategies.
The juxtaposition of these two states underscores the complexities in defining and addressing child welfare, with different methodologies yielding variable outcomes in child safety and family support.
