The state of Maine has the chance to reform Child Protection Services by adopting LD 779, An Act to Create a Separate Department of Child and Family Services.

This bill would create an independent Department of Child and Family Services with an independent commissioner, separate from the Department of Health and Human Services, as proposed by Sen. Jeff Timberlake.

In 2021, former Sen. Bill Diamond proposed the same thing, and he now leads the nonprofit organization Walk a Mile in Their Shoes, which is focused on improving Maine’s child welfare system.

A new department is urgently needed due to the many well documented, serious failures within DHHS/CPS over many years. These failures are not the result of Republican or Democrat administrative policies, but have come from a long-term, deeply entrenched set of institutional problems within DHHS that have worsened over time. There are so many divisions, dysfunctions and gaps in the system that cases cannot be effectively managed.

In the grand scheme of the state budget, $4.2 million is not a lot to ask to better ensure the well-being and welfare of our children. DHHS now says that it is willing to separate CPS from its department, after long fighting against it tooth and nail. The separation of CPS from DHHS would shift the focus to prioritizing what is most important — our children. It is imperative that we improve our record of ensuring the well-being and welfare of all children in state custody from the moment they enter care.

This proposal is not simply a renaming or rebranding of the same bureaucracy, but given the many failures that have been brought to light over the past few years, it offers the opportunity for a fresh start for building a new kind of support system for our children and families. This new cabinet-level children’s department requires that children and families be kept at the center of the system, which will hopefully reduce the multiple failures that we have seen repeatedly since 2001, such as in Logan Marr’s case.

I would furthermore like to see this new organization include family court in handling CPS cases, as well as move the youth criminal justice system under the same umbrella.

While this proposal will not directly address the shortage of caseworkers, fewer layers of bureaucracy should make it easier for them to directly interact with management and carry out timely action to guarantee the safety and well-being of children under their care. Systemic improvements should allow them to get the support they need, such as case aides, as well as limit the turnover of staff.  A temporary housing site for children taken into state care should be established at the regional level, which would end the use of hotel rooms to house children under caseworker supervision. Should a family court be set up to handle cases, legal aides could assist in seeing that cases be resolved faster, which would also help reduce ongoing caseloads.

This proposal also calls for an independent investigator to investigate child protection operations.  This is essential for kinship and foster families that currently have no outside support or authority to turn to when there is a problem, and truthfully, do bureaucrats actually want to look at themselves if there is a mission failure?

There is a lack of accountability from DHHS/CPS because it is not required to follow its own rules, and if it steps away from those rules, there is no one to hold accountable. Had someone held DHHS/CPS accountable to its own rules, maybe the Ayla Reynolds tragedy could have been prevented.

The envisioned new department must strictly prohibit the use of “confidentiality” disclaimers to try to cover up failures to protect Maine’s children from abuse and death. Following trial, the new department must be fully transparent in explaining how specific failures and missed opportunities occurred in each case, as well as detail what corrective measures have been put in place to prevent them from happening to other children in the future.

We have a rare window of opportunity now to make law-changing — and life-changing — improvements in Maine Child Protective Services. I am honored to use my voice on behalf of children who are unable to use theirs. Won’t you please join me in speaking out for children living in custody of the state of Maine?

Matthew Agren of Lewiston is directly involved with the foster care system, acting as a legal guardian for the past five years. He is a member of Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine, Inc. and the Kinship Program, which is an organization dedicated to providing the guidance, knowledge and resources needed to handle complex issues encountered by families while working with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.

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