A nationwide search of prospective candidates who might turnaround the struggling Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has instead landed on former Deputy Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced Thursday that she will nominate Gagné-Holmes to serve as the next commissioner of DHHS, a sprawling government bureaucracy tasked with managing child welfare services and Maine’s bloated welfare rolls.
Gagné-Holmes has been serving as the department’s acting commissioner since the start of June, following the resignation of previous DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew in May.
[RELATED: Lambrew Out at Maine DHHS…]
She served as deputy commissioner of Maine DHHS since joining the department in March 2019.
Under Commissioner Lambrew’s leadership, Maine DHHS saw a substantial increase in child deaths in cases with DHHS involvement over previous years, and a drastic downward trend in child welfare practice by their Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS).
Prior to Lambrew’s resignation, DHHS also saw the resignation of OFCS Director Todd Landry, who faced mounting criticism over the record number of Maine children who have died despite attempted interventions by state child welfare workers.
A Sanford native, Gagné-Holmes earned an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, and a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law, and previously served as a law clerk with the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
A former health policy advisor to Gov. John Baldacci (D), Gagné-Holmes later worked for for eight years as executive director of the left-wing Maine Equal Justice Partners (MEJP), a nonprofit that has been influential in lobbying for expanded welfare programs in Augusta.
[RELATED: Maine Lawmakers Seek New Gov’t Agency to Address Systemic Child Welfare Failures…]
“Acting Commissioner Gagné-Holmes cares deeply about the health, safety, and welfare of Maine people, and she has dedicated nearly her entire professional career to improving the lives of people across this state,” Gov. Mills said in a Thursday statement.
“Her deep policy and managerial experience, her intimate knowledge of the department – including both its strengths and its challenges – along with the respect she has earned from her colleagues, lawmakers and others, and her collaborative approach to solving problems make her the right person at the right time to take on this important role,” Mills said.
“I know she is fully committed to working together to advance the health, safety, and welfare of Maine people, and I am confident she will lead the Department with integrity, compassion, and skill,” she added.
[RELATED: Public Records Shed Light on Maine’s Failure to Protect Most Vulnerable Children…]
“I’m honored to accept the Governor’s nomination as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services,” Gagné-Holmes said on Thursday. “The Department has made great strides in advancing our mission of ensuring health, safety, resilience, and opportunity for Maine people.”
“We have more work to do to fully implement our progress, better meet the needs of the Maine people we serve, and continue building trust through listening, transparency, and accountability. I look forward to discussing how we will achieve those goals with the Legislature, our many partners, and the public,” Gagné-Holmes said.
Gov. Mills is expected to formally post the nomination Gagné-Holmes in the coming days.
The nomination will then be subject to a hearing before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, and to confirmation by the Maine State Senate.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="29441 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=29441">15 Comments
I wonder how much this woman contributed to Mills’ and the Democrat party; I’ll bet it’s huge.
Maine DhS us corrupt and premeditate and plan the stalking, invasion hippa privacy health records ,then if you have the right genes induce with black market off label meds poisen to cause adverse reaction that is WHO,CDC,DHS, federal ,national critical level 7 public health emergency ,adverse reaction at that point they falsify perjured themselves, records medical and court , for DHS to get custody through fraud adult protective of fraud child protective ,so as wards of the state ,they get the millions upon millions each victim ( ward )of state in ssi, medicare reimbursements, pharma settlements which are very large for this adverse reaction cause of the devastating outcomes it paralyzes ,blinds, internal necrotizing soft tissue, internal organ failure,burning alive inside out slow torture death with no medical intervention at all none, can take years to kill slow horrific death if young and strong , while you aspirate in bacteria blood flesh , loose your bowels , heart, liquifies brain ,short term memory loss, fear, anxiety, ptsd, mental trauma anguish , isolated last years of their lives from . Parents siblings friends , they can’t see or talk to anyone ,they are not allowed a phone or laptop they scream ” they are killing me ! ” “Help me!” They have arrest bracelets on ankle ,this is all true ! It happened to us ,foster babies,children ,brain injuries they caused ,elderly vets, mentally ill, the collusion between maine gov and her sister Dora n brother peter who are cheif organizer and director , infectious disease ,patient safety ,other brother CMP director , interstate director , all pharma investors, stakeholders in Maine hospitals ! They are on the boards of treasury, judicary, hospitals, auditors , schools, etc, it has destroyed our family and hundreds others ,they say they are not cognitive ! It’s so traumatizing g and shocking watching people of trust of color of law , to all walk in court threaten you,call you names, lie,perjure, laugh yes laugh at you ,while they are terrorizing you get are laughing and think it’s so funny even in the ERS ! But they messed with the wrong MOTHER this time ! !!!! They ripped out our heart and soul , it was so so devastating and shocking , when APS caseworker told us not to bring our son back to hospital that he looked Good , but we were trained to care for him after damage they done , that was may 21 ,2021, she said we very things all normal labs ,etc, we knew different ,he said ” mom ,i’m dying ,and his BP’s very low , rash,blisters ,etc, so we took him to bisten hospital got there at midnite where he was admitted critical acute with 4 deadly colonies neg gram bacterial infections neg gram signature for adverse reaction , stayed a month , DHS still has custody terrorizing our family ! Attorney frey falsified docs , but him n Mills top two stakeholders ,trustees ,over wards ,( victims ) 133 dead disabled bodies hundreds more no investigations or causes of deaths all wards of state of Maine taken illegally ! The truth is truth ,it does not lie,it does not forget ,it does not change ,it stays the same and it always ,always ,always comes out, why because it’s truth !
Hmmmm, a hyphenated last name, Bowdoin graduate, health policy advisor to Baldacci, Director of the MEJP. She’s a perfect pick if we want to continue to waste taxpayer dollars and solve none of the problems associated with DHHS.
Mills continues to destroy Maine at every level!
Gee, make it obvious that the “nation wide search” was all for show so you could claim you tried but could only find a friend and crony in state.
They aren’t even good liars.
Yet another tax and spend incompetent democrat who couldn’t find her way out of paper bag without a guidebook. Mills is an example of the blind leading the inept and this bimbette fits the mold for the perfect level of stupidity to fit the bill.
We often hear of the Washington, DC “Swamp”. Over the past forty years we have watched the State of Maine fill its own Augusta Swamp with socialist/democrats. Hang on to you wallet, Maine taxes and most Maine town taxes, are heading upwards in a hurry.
How much was pissed away on the “nationwide search” when this hack is right in Mills backyard. Don’t expect anything to change. There is more bloviating in this piece than you’d get from a hot air balloon. DHHS-another alphabet soup money wasting, inept gov’t bureaucracy we’d all be better off without. Just another dem money scam operation.
Just what the KIDS do not need an other hack lawyer.
A Maine example of the Peter Principle. You’re promoted to your level of incompetence.
The last thing we need to run Maine DHHS is another political bureaucrat! DHHS is an agency that deals with people’s lives not people’s legal issues. The main focus for finding a new replacement to lead DHHS in the right direction is to concentrate on the mental and physical health of Maine citizens, not the legal ramifications of the bureaucracy. We need a leader from the mental health field who can focus on the problems that everyday Maine citizens face. I urge everyone to call or write their Maine Congressional Leaders and ask them NOT to support the Governor’s Appointment of this individual. http://www.legislature.maine.gov
“ Nationwide “ search ……LOL
How about ……” just look around the parking lot Janet “
There is a woman !
Does she have a hyphenated name ?
Bingo !
We’ll pick her !
SHE’S hired !
Another Tongue and Groover to be sure , I bet she gets a lot of compliments on the Hyphen .
The only way to stop further destruction of our State is to stop voting democrat, and also tell the out of staters moving here, leave your insane radicalism where you came from, because it is neither wanted or needed here.
SGH is one of the adults in the room. The question is not whether she is qualified. Rather it is whether this job in its current culture can actually do anything about the people who will keep secrets, protect their jobs and make her look bad. My question is whether any Democrat has the fortitude to stand up to the subordinates. Few people can survive, as we have seen, the ball of string that is DHHS. There are some very insecure people who have no fear of consequences in efforts to hide their incompetence. Best of luck SGH!!