WATERVILLE, Maine — While many candidates talk about Maine’s child welfare system from the outside, Shawn Packard says he has lived it and now he is running for State Representative in District 64 to advocate for change and strengthen the laws affecting Maine’s most vulnerable children.
Packard entered Maine’s foster care system at age 12 and spent much of his childhood living with different foster families, an experience he says shaped both his perspective and his mission.
In one defining moment, Packard represented himself in court without a guardian ad litem, speaking on his own behalf at an age when most children are still learning to find their voice.
By 14, he was already working alongside state leadership, including former Gov. Paul LePage, DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew, and officials within the Office of Child and Family Services, gaining an early understanding of how policy decisions affect real lives.
At 16, Packard helped draft Maine’s Foster Youth Bill of Rights through the Youth Leadership Advisory Team, traveling to Washington, D.C., and contributing to efforts aimed at ensuring foster youth are treated with dignity, stability, and clear legal protections.
Packard said his willingness to speak up came with challenges.
Following his involvement in Bill Diamond’s “Walk a Mile in Their Shoes” initiative, Packard says his role within DHHS-related youth advocacy efforts diminished, an experience he says reinforced his belief that real advocacy often requires stepping outside the system to change it.
“That moment showed me something important,” said Packard. “If we want better outcomes, we have to be willing to have hard conversations and take action, not just within the system, but at the level where laws are written.”
Today, Packard is carrying that same mindset into his campaign.
As the founder of a local film production business and an active member of the central Maine community, Packard says he has built a career rooted in storytelling, leadership, and service. But he said his run for office is about a broader purpose.
“I’m running to advocate for kids who don’t have a voice, to help strengthen the laws that protect them, and to ensure accountability where it matters most,” Packard said. “This isn’t theory for me, it’s personal.”
Packard’s campaign is focused on strengthening Maine’s welfare laws to better protect foster youth and diminish fraud, increasing accountability and transparency within state systems, improving practical education in schools and education scores, and confronting the challenges of addiction and homelessness with compassion and accountability.
His candidacy offers a perspective not often seen in Augusta, one shaped by lived experience and a continued commitment to advocacy and what he describes as real solutions for Maine as a whole.
“Maine has the opportunity to lead on this,” Packard added. “We can build a state that truly supports children and families, but it starts by not covering the problem up.”
