09-05-2025
Bipartisan call to model child welfare oversight in Maine after New Hampshire
The failings of the Office of Child and Family Services, a division of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, was a key focus of the Legislature last session. (Photo by Getty Images)
A bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to change oversight of child welfare in Maine to mirror the approach taken by its neighboring state.
Assistant House Majority Leader Lori Gramlich (D-Old Orchard Beach) said she modeled her bill after the New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate. LD 1893, which has two Republican and seven Democrat cosponsors, would transfer Maine's existing child welfare ombudsman into a new, independent agency with expanding responsibilities to advocate for Maine children.
The proposed Office of Child Advocate would have the authority to receive complaints, access information, investigate, make public reports and advise the executive and legislative branches on how best to provide services to the state's youth.
'This bill builds a foundation for meaningful oversight and reform while ensuring children's voices and interests remain at the forefront,' Gramlich told the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee during a public hearing Friday morning.
After renewed scrutiny in recent years, there have been multiple proposals from lawmakers and agency leadership to improve the state's embattled child welfare system. Last year, frontline workers came forward with accounts of onerous workloads that culminated in December with a letter of no confidence in the agency's leadership.
The proposed restructuring comes after the committee backed a proposal to update the state's definition of child abuse and neglect that legal experts have argued is easy to conflate with poverty.
Christine Alberi, the state's current child welfare ombudsman, supports the bill to transition her position into an Office of Child Advocate because it preserves the work her office is already doing while adding 'necessary functions.' For example, the new office would allow for juvenile justice investigations and access to facilities such as Long Creek Youth Development Center, the South Portland-based youth correctional facility.
However, Alberi said that adequate funding would be crucial to the office's success. During the hearing, she said it wasn't clear where those resources would come from, since the ombudsman office has struggled with a lack of funding for staff since 2012.
The current child welfare ombudsman program in Maine operates as a nonprofit that assists and investigates complaints against how child protective services cases are handled. It submits an annual report that includes an analysis of case specific reviews and other details about its interaction with the Office of Child and Family Services.
Having served as New Hampshire's first child advocate, Moira O'Neill said she believes Maine could have avoided a lawsuit with the U.S. Department of Justice over the state's children's behavioral health services had there been a proactive resource checking on the children in the care of the Department of Corrections. The suit was settled last November.
O'Neill, who helped craft the model in New Hampshire before stepping down in 2021, supported Maine adopting that structure. She said Maine's current ombudsman office leaves many children, especially those in the juvenile justice system, without an ally.
Republican lawmakers in New Hampshire have expressed interest in cutting the Office of Child Advocate when looking for ways to trim the state budget.
Gramlich said the Office of the Attorney General suggested modest amendments to the bill that she is happy to work with the committee to incorporate.
The Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the state's child welfare agency, spoke neither for nor against the bill. Director of Government Relations Abby Stivers said the department would like more time to review the proposal, but cautioned that the new framework being proposed likely requires more consideration than the department can give it in the remaining time for this legislative session.
Stivers said the authority granted to the child advocate in this legislation could be wide reaching and questioned whether it is necessary given the multiple forms of oversight that already exist for child welfare services. The agency is subject to federal oversight, multiple citizen review panels and was subject to extensive investigative work from the Legislature's Government Oversight Committee last session.
However, Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) reintroduced a bill he brought forth last session to create an Office of the Inspector General of Child Protection.
'The problems with the Maine Department of Health and Human Services are going to require far more than cosmetic surgery being suggested by some,' he told the committee when introducing LD 770.
An inspector general at the state level would send a 'clear and articulate message' that the accountability and transparency of Maine's child welfare system needs to be substantially changed, Baldacci said. He referenced a 2024 report from the federal watchdog that indicated Maine struggled to comply with best practices in the vast majority of abuse and neglect cases.
Under this proposal, the inspector general would be appointed by the governor to serve a five year term, with the potential for reappointment. It would also take on matters related to juvenile justice and have subpoena powers.
No one from the public testified on the bill. Bobbi Johnson, director of the Office of Child and Family Services, provided written testimony opposing the legislation. She wrote that it isn't clear what benefit the role would offer to the 'robust and comprehensive oversight of child welfare that already exists.'
The proposal last session ultimately died after it was not endorsed by the Health and Human Services Committee.
SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
