Maine’s child welfare system is still struggling despite improvements that have been implemented since the abuse deaths of Marissa Kennedy and Kendall Chick two years ago, according to the latest annual report from the state’s Child Welfare Services Ombudsman.
Christine Alberi investigates complaints made about the state’s child welfare system. Her fiscal year 2019 report covers the reporting period from October 2018 through September of 2019, but most of the cases occurred between the summer of 2018 and the spring of 2019. It was a time of tremendous upheaval in the wake of Kennedy and Chick’s deaths, when the state experienced a surge in reports of abuse or neglect.
“Keep in mind, the majority of the cases were handled well. It’s just that the problem is the stakes are so high, when some are not able to be done as they should be, it can have pretty serious consequences,” she says.
Of the more than 600 inquiries her office received, Alberi says she opened a total 109 cases involving 192 children for review.
She identified issues in a total of 37 cases, and most centered around two critical points: the initial assessment of whether a child was safe, and the finding that it was safe to reunify a child with their parents.
Eighteen cases involved initial assessments, and examples highlighted in the report reveal instances where Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services either failed to recognize or disregarded evidence of risk.
In one case, a parent and children had initial interviews, but there were no follow-up assessments and the case remained open until five months later, when one of the parents severely injured an infant, causing life-threatening and lifelong injuries.
In another case, a child’s “valid and credible disclosures” of abuse were given less weight because they were made to professionals outside of the department.
Alberi says it’s not unusual for a child to talk to certain people about abuse and not others, “and if the department doesn’t get the disclosure themselves, [they] may not proceed accordingly, as they should.”
In this case, the children in the home were only taken into state custody several months later, after a parent became unresponsive due to substance use in front of the children.
Eleven cases with issues involved reunification with parents. Alberi says it’s one of the most complex decisions to make in a child welfare case and requires thorough ongoing contact with parents to make an assessment.
“Basically, the ongoing investigation of the case has to be just as thorough and intense throughout the case and toward the end of the case as it needs to be at the beginning,” she says.
But in the ombudsman report, Alberi says the Department did not have adequate information to make a determination in multiple cases. In one instance, it resulted in a trial placement that began too soon — two months after a parent had tested positive for substance abuse, with no further screening conducted.
The remaining seven cases involved other issues, including truancy. When a child has several unexcused absences from school, Alberi says it’s often an indicator of other issues in the home. But she says the department has a longstanding pattern of not recognizing truancy as a sign of risk and should alter its practices.
The ombudsman report notes there have been significant improvements to Child Welfare Services, including a boost in staffing. The biennial budget authorized 62 new positions, including 32 caseworkers, which, according to DHHS, have all been filled.
The Department has also increased transparency, consulted with outside experts, and implemented recommendations. A new investigative policy has been adopted to help caseworkers, in addition to new structured decision-making tools
But, Alberi says in her report, “it seems that the change in policy alone has not yet led to significant improvements in accurately determining the safety of children.”
She says caseworkers need ongoing training throughout their employment to successfully implement these policies and tools.
Alberi says Child Welfare Services is on a path to reform and progress, and she found many instances when front-line staff demonstrated a high level of competence. But she says there’s still a great deal of work to do, and she hopes that the will to adequately support child protective services won’t be lost as improvements are achieved.
“Moving forward, my biggest worry is that we as a state will forget what happened. What can happen to children, you know, the dire circumstances they can find themselves in.” Alberi says.
Updated Jan. 15, 2019 at 5:33 a.m. ET.
