The Office of Program and Government Accountability has found that Maine did not mishandle 3-year-old Maddox Williams' case before he died.
Maddox died in June 2021. His mother, Jessica Trefethen, was sentenced in December to 47 years in prison for depraved indifference murder. It is the second report the watchdog has delivered on four high-profile child deaths in 2021.
The report released Friday details a long and complicated case focused on Trefethen. She was at various times aggressive towards caseworkers and failed to participate in reunification efforts when Maddox was taken out of her care.
A court agreed with the child welfare office in 2019 that the Trefethen parents posed a safety risk to Maddox and his siblings. But the department held off from terminating parental rights for a key reason, OPEGA director Peter Schleck told the Government Oversight Committee.
"In order to grant a termination of parental rights, the court must find by clear and convincing evidence that a parent is unfit and that termination is in the child’s best interest," he said, reading from the report.
OPEGA noted caseworkers failed to interview the father of Trefethen's oldest child, who might have had insight into her situation. But the scope of the investigation was in part limited because the state never found proof that Maddox's mother was physically abusing him, according to the report. Workers also noted Trefethen and her partner seemed to be making progress on substance use and mental health treatments.
The state eventually returned custody to her despite her failure to participate in various reunification efforts. That finding seemed to frustrate lawmakers, who wondered how the state could have missed other signs of abuse.
"That's, it signifies, at least in my mind, that she was telling someone, the rest of the family the world that her son wasn't that important to her," said Sen. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop.
The report notes that a caseworker was supposed to make monthly visits in the months leading up to Maddox's death. But the May visit was delayed because Trefethen had work conflicts. She offered June 17 as a date, but the caseworker could not make that day. The meeting was scheduled for June 24 — but Maddox was admitted to the hospital and died on June 20.
OPEGA recommended the state better document its decision-making around parental rights terminations and explore custody options more thoroughly. It also needs to address its long-standing staffing issues to investigate cases better.
The committee is currently suing Maine to get access to investigative files related to four child deaths in the summer of 2021. A subcommittee dedicated to that lawsuit met in executive session after the meeting adjourned.
