AUGUSTA, Maine (AP)   Republican Gov. Paul LePage says lawmakers should only take up child welfare reform legislation that his administration is drafting once the Legislature wraps up pending work.

LePage said Thursday he doesn’t want to see child welfare legislation become a political “soccer ball.” Lawmakers facing stalemate on public campaign funding haven’t returned to Augusta for over two weeks.

Maine’s top health official has said Maine’s struggling child welfare system needs more caseworkers, a new computer system and changes to mandatory reporting and family reunification policies.

A legislative watchdog agency is investigating Maine’s child welfare system following the deaths of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy in February in Stockton Springs and 4-year-old Kendall Chick in December in Wiscasset. Lawmakers are looking into ways to improve Maine’s struggling child welfare system without resorting to legislation.