Silent No More Against Maine's DHHS held a rally in Skowhegan

A group called Silent No More Against Maine's Department of Health and Human Services rallied outside of the DHHS office in Skowhegan Tuesday.

More >> Silent No More Against Maine's DHHS held a rally in Skowhegan

Buxton man arrested after police say he pushed DHHS caseworkers

A Buxton man faces several charges after police said he pushed two Maine Department of Health and Human Services caseworkers at his home as part of an investigation.

Buxton and Saco Police were on scene with the caseworkers at a home on Town Farm Road when George Casey, 63, came home.

More >> Buxton man arrested after police say he pushed DHHS caseworkers

Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against DHHS from mother seeking contact with her daughter

A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed an Eddington woman’s lawsuit that sought to force the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to allow her contact with her 7-year-old daughter, who in May was living with her father’s girlfriend in Ellsworth under an agency safety plan.

U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker said the case belonged in state court because “federal courts do not have jurisdiction to issue child custody decrees.”

More >> Federal judge dismisses lawsuit against DHHS from mother seeking contact with her daughter

Members of the "Silent No More Against Maine DHHS" Facebook group protest in Augusta

Members of a newly-formed Facebook group were at the State House Wednesday protesting the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

More >> Members of the "Silent No More Against Maine DHHS" Facebook group protest in Augusta

Maine mother sues DHHS in federal court seeking contact with daughter

An Eddington woman is asking a federal judge to force the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to allow her contact with her 7-year-old daughter, who is living with her father’s girlfriend in Ellsworth under an agency safety plan.

Toni Barronton, 33, claims that DHHS violated her right to due process after it reneged on a decision to let the girl live with her temporarily after her father, Patrick Lynn, 32, allegedly violated his probation by using drugs.

More >> Maine mother sues DHHS in federal court seeking contact with daughter

As new leaders take over Maine’s child welfare system, caseworkers say they’re still ‘drowning’

In the 15 or so months since two Maine children died from abuse in their homes despite having had repeated contact with child welfare caseworkers, state leaders have vowed to reform the beleaguered system.

But deployment of those reforms, gleaned from two separate investigations into the department — one of which is still ongoing — after the deaths of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy and 4-year-old Kendall Chick, have hit bureaucratic snags.

More >> As new leaders take over Maine’s child welfare system, caseworkers say they’re still ‘drowning’

Lawmakers urged to limit Maine child protection workers’ caseloads

State lawmakers are contemplating a bill that would limit the caseloads for state child protective workers, a shift aimed at closing cracks in a system that advocates say contributed to the deaths of two young girls in late 2017 and early 2018.

State Rep. Colleen Madigan, D-Waterville, told members of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Monday that child protective workers overburdened with cases cannot fully protect Maine’s vulnerable children. She urged the committee to set standards for caseloads based on the recommendations of a national organization focused on child welfare.

More >> Lawmakers urged to limit Maine child protection workers’ caseloads

Flaws in Maine’s child protection system frustrate frontline workers, report says

The Legislature’s watchdog agency reported Friday that Maine’s child protective system is hobbled by overburdened caseworkers, staffing shortages, inefficient computer systems and a lack of foster families that forces caseworkers to supervise abused or at-risk children in hotels and hospitals for long periods.

The findings, based on a survey and interviews with staff in the Office of Child and Family Services, are part of a new report to the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee that follows the deaths of two children in 2017 and 2018.

More >> Flaws in Maine’s child protection system frustrate frontline workers, report says

• Report finds most Maine child welfare workers stressed, overwhelmed

A consultant hired to review Maine’s child welfare system found these flaws

Early findings in a new report evaluating eight child welfare cases handled by Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services show a system-wide need for department improvements — a likely precursor for a more comprehensive report to come.

More >> A consultant hired to review Maine’s child welfare system found these flaws

New report details failures in Maine's child welfare response

From 90 minute call wait times to slow responses, a new report highlights the problems with Maine's child welfare office. WMTW News 8's Paul Merrill has more on what is detailed in the report.

More >> New report details failures in Maine's child welfare response

Maine father pardoned, cleared of wrongdoing after being accused of abusing infant son

A Maine father has been pardoned nearly five years after being accused of abusing his infant son.

Brandon Ross had said a medical condition called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome was the cause of his son's injuries. It is a genetic condition that causes bones to be abnormally susceptible to fractures.

More >> Maine father pardoned, cleared of wrongdoing after being accused of abusing infant son

Maine’s still not making full use of its child welfare services watchdog amid ‘a bit of a crisis’

In the more than 10 months since 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy was abused to death allegedly at the hands of her mother and stepfather, the number of assessments state-contracted caseworkers conducted into potentially at-risk families nearly doubled.

The resulting sharp uptick — 909 assessments in 2018 compared with 545 in 2017 — occurred because, suddenly, “there were fears things were being missed,” Child Welfare Ombudsman Christine Alberi told the legislative Committee on Health and Human Services last week in Augusta.

More >> Maine’s still not making full use of its child welfare services watchdog amid ‘a bit of a crisis’

Family Reunification Law Takes Effect

A new Maine law calls for state officials to make "reasonable efforts" to keep families together instead of making it a "priority" as required by previous law.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage and lawmakers pressed for the bills after the deaths of two girls, 4-year-old Kendall Chick in December in Wiscasset and 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy in Stockton Springs in February.

More >> Family Reunification Law Takes Effect

'Dawnland' Documents Maine's Efforts To Reconcile Indian Child Removal

In 2012, the state of Maine began an effort to address a disturbing part of its history and present: the systematic removal of Indigenous children from their families and tribal communities through boarding schools and the foster care system. The documentary "Dawnland" follows the work of the Maine Wabanaki-State Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

More >> 'Dawnland' Documents Maine's Efforts To Reconcile Indian Child Removal

• Wabanaki Seek Healing and Justice in 'Dawnland'

The painful story of one of Maine’s darkest chapters

Less than fifty years ago, one in four Native American children lived away from their families. They were in boarding schools or foster care or adoptive homes, all because the government had removed those kids from their relatives.

Sound like the type of horror story that happens somewhere else? Unfortunately, it isn’t. It happened in Maine, and the new documentary “Dawnland” examines the deep wounds the policy inflicted and the state’s effort to begin to bring some healing through the creation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The film will air nationwide on public television on November 5 and be screened at the University of Southern Maine on November 16. Ben Pender-Cudlip co-directed “Dawnland” and talked to 207 about the story it tells.

More >> The painful story of one of Maine’s darkest chapters

Maine fifth-highest in nation in prescribing psychotropic drugs to foster children

Nearly 30 percent of foster children in Maine who were prescribed powerful psychiatric drugs did not receive a basic “treatment plan” or regular reviews of their medications, a federal investigation has found.

Just shy of one-third of children in foster care in Maine during the period reviewed by federal investigators were prescribed anti-depressants, drugs to treat anxiety and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders or other “psychotropic” medications. The proportion of Maine foster children receiving such drugs – 1,155 of the 3,527 children in foster care, or 32.7 percent – was well above the 22.2 percent national average for the analyzed period, ranking Maine fifth behind North Dakota, Virginia, New Hampshire and Iowa.

More >> Maine fifth-highest in nation in prescribing psychotropic drugs to foster children

Maine’s failed to keep at-risk youth safe. No wonder Long Creek is overwhelmed.

The last time Maine’s system for providing children with mental health services got a comprehensive look was in 1997.

That’s when state officials — at the Legislature’s direction, and with the help of service providers, parents and others — assembled a strategic plan for building up the range of services for children with mental health challenges that they could access without having to check into a hospital or be committed to an institution.

More >> Maine’s failed to keep at-risk youth safe. No wonder Long Creek is overwhelmed.

Take it from a former foster kid — the system is broken

With all the issues with the Department of Health and Human Services, I feel compelled to write.

Being raised in foster care system along with my three siblings, we were the four Weisbacker children that fell through the cracks of the system in the state of Maine.

More >> Take it from a former foster kid — the system is broken

Meet the US cop who found his long-lost Irish mother through a DNA test

American Kevin Battle, a Harbor Master from Portland, Maine, recently found out that he was adopted from Co. Tipperary after taking a DNA test.

According to RTÉ, Battle had difficulty finding his birth mother prior to taking the test because the records were incorrect. The family members he has met with have told him that his mother was forced to put him up for adoption and had tried many times to find him before she passed away.

More >> Meet the US cop who found his long-lost Irish mother through a DNA test

DHHS Report: 'Poor job performance and inadequate supervision' contributed to child deaths

Maine's DHHS will use this case as a growth opportunity as the Legislature throws money at them to fix the problems, excluding the fact that these people couldn't tell the difference between Child Abuse and a hole in the ground.  Social Workers simply aren't smart enough to do a job like this.

Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) “failed to follow policies and procedures” in one of two horrific child abuse cases, according to a report released Thursday by the Office of Program Evaluation and Accountability. 

The report does not identify whether this happened in the case of Marissa Kennedy or Kendall Chick. It says in one of the cases, OCFS failed to stay “engaged with the child and family to ensure needed services and supports were provided.” 

More >> DHHS Report: 'Poor job performance and inadequate supervision' contributed to child deaths

They'll provide more training, try to hire more child snatchers, there will be increased efforts to get more suckers to sign up to recruit potential foster parents to open their hearts and their homes.

You should all know this by now.

Ultimately, Maine is going to start snatching more kids.