A Republican member of Maine’s Government Oversight Committee (GOC) has criticized the state’s recent taxpayer-funded effort to “identify institutional and structural deficiencies” within the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) as a “wasteful” and “redundant” endeavor that is “somewhat dismissive” of similar efforts in the past.
Sen. Jeff Timberlake (R-Androscoggin) sent a letter in mid-June to OCFS Director Bobbi Johnson expressing concern over the Department of Health and Human Services’ (DHHS) decision to contract with Public Consulting Group LLC (PCG) to conduct an internal review of the Office.
Maine DHHS and the OCFS have come under scrutiny in recent months over their continued failure to protect Maine’s most vulnerable children.
[RELATED: Maine DHHS Announces New Child Welfare Director, Vows “Rapid Management Audit”]
With a price tag of nearly $250,000, Sen. Timberlake argues that the audit “share[s] a good deal of overlap” with the findings that have already been produced in previous reports.
“As you are aware, similar audits and investigations have been undertaken regularly in recent years through the efforts of the Legislature’s [GOC], the Foundation, Maine’s Child Welfare Ombudsman, and the non-profit organization Walk a Mile in Their Shoes [WAMITS],” Timberlake wrote. “These reviews have yielded results that share a good deal of overlap with the findings of PCG.”
“As such, this letter is not intended to call into question the efficacy or competence of PCG, but rather to question the necessity of dispensing nearly $250,000 in taxpayer dollars to identify internal shortcomings that have become largely well established,” said Timberlake. “It strikes me as wasteful, redundant and somewhat dismissive of the fair-reaching efforts put forth by these entities and the Maine Legislature.”
“While it is encouraging that this independent group has further confirmed these alarming trends — and I actually agree with some of their recommendations — the decision to compound our investigative efforts at this late stage appears emblematic of the waste and inefficiency all too often witnessed within our state agencies,” said Timberlake.
He goes on to argue that there “may be merit to the notion that PCG’s audit is distinct due to the comprehensive structural remedies they were tasked to identify,” but he goes on to take issue with the Department’s “cavalier attitude toward the nearly identicial findings by the [GOC].”
“It begs the question as to why the department did not immediately begin to implement corrective measures in the wake of this initial collection of reports,” Timberlake said.
The failure of the Department and OCFS to effectively protect the children under its care and fulfill its responsibilities effectively has been highlighted by numerous sources in recent years, including the Child Welfare Ombudsman and WAMITS.
Similar issues were also revealed by a series of public records obtained by the Maine Wire last year.
[RELATED: Public Records Shed Light on Maine’s Failure to Protect Most Vulnerable Children]
The Ombudsman’s most recent annual report revealed that there was a continued “decline in child welfare practice” in the 2023 fiscal year.
“As has been true in previous annual reports, this year shows continued struggles with decision-making around child safety,” the report stated. “Primarily, the Department has had difficulty in two areas: 1) during initial investigations into child safety and decision-making around where a child is safe during an investigation, and 2) during reunification when making safety decisions about whether to send a child home.”
“Much of the public focus in child welfare has been on child deaths that continue to be reported in the news. These children who have died deserve our full attention and respect,” the report stated. “It is equally important to remember that there are many children who are harmed repeatedly in the care of their parents, but never appear in the news.”
“Children are living in difficult and traumatic circumstances all over the state every day,” the Ombudsman concluded. “We have the responsibility, as a state, to protect those children.”
[RELATED: Child Welfare Ombudsman Reports Continued “Decline in Child Welfare Practice” for 2023]
The WAMITS report — released in December of 2023 — detailed numerous ways in which DHHS has fallen short of its responsibilities and provided a number of concrete solutions to the problems identified.
Titled Unsupported: Key Lessons for Improving Maine’s Child Welfare System by Supporting All Stakeholders, the report from WAMITS is broken down into several sections, one for each of the key constituencies involved in and affected by the DHHS’ recent failures: caseworkers, foster parents, children, and other stakeholders.
Each section outlines the “areas of concern” that were noted by stakeholders, explains the consequences that are associated with these problems, and concludes with a number of practical and realistic solutions aimed at solving the identified issues.
Among the issues noted in this report were insufficient training, a “dysfunctional” computer system, unrealistic expectations, unmanageable caseloads, and a lack of support for foster families, among other things.
[RELATED: Ex-Dem Sen Diamond’s Report Details Mountain of Failures in Maine’s Child Welfare System]
Shortly after the release of PCG’s report in March, the Maine DHHS announced that it would be implementing a number of the group’s recommendations to “streamline and clarify roles, provide greater support for professional development, and improve connections between the Central and District Offices.”
According to a press release published by the Department, these changes were implemented “within existing authority” and “position[ed] staff to better serve Maine children and families.”
This OCFS redesign focused primarily on the Office’s organizational structure and included changes such as a new job description for the Associate Director for Child Welfare and “the movement of the Children’s Behavioral Health Services team (CHBS) from OCFS to the Office of Behavioral Health (OBH).”
“This is a significant step forward for children’s services in Maine that will better promote the safety of children and the dedicated staff who care for them,” then-DHHS Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said. “It reflects the Mills Administration’s broad commitment to child safety and family well-being and promotes a state management structure that works toward that goal.”
[RELATED: Lambrew Out at Maine DHHS]
“This reorganization comes as the result of careful consideration after review of the recent management audit and was heavily informed by feedback we’ve received from staff at all levels within OCFS,” said Johnson.
“This structure will strengthen our efforts to improve culture and communication, balance workloads, build consistency, and clarify roles and responsibilities – all of which will strengthen OCFS and benefit the children and families we serve,” Johnson concluded.
Click Here to Read the Full Press Release
250K to this Administration is like a nickel to regular people