A legislative committee voted overwhelmingly on Thursday against creating a stand-alone child welfare agency within state government.
Sen. Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, said the Maine Department of Health and Human Services has grown too large to manage. So Timberlake proposed removing the Office of Child and Family Services from DHHS — a move that he predicted could improvement management and address some of the oversight issues identified by recent investigations.
"I think something different has to happen," Timberlake told members of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee. "We can't continue on that same road. And I don't think that we have made the change."
But committee members voted 9-2 against the bill, LD 779, on Thursday.
"I think some changes have been made and they have been good changes. And I think we need to give them a chance," said committee co-chair Rep. Michele Meyer, D-Eliot.
Lawmakers are expected to continue discussing other changes to child welfare programs before the Legislature adjourns next month. The Legislature's Government Oversight Committee has been investigating the state's child welfare programs for several years following four abuse-related child deaths in one month in 2021.
Those reviews by the Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability — coupled with testimony from frontline caseworkers at DHHS — have identified process shortcomings, overworked and overburdened staff as well as other problems within the department.
