AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine’s top health official says the state’s struggling child welfare system needs more caseworkers, a new computer system and changes to mandatory reporting and family reunification policies.
Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Ricker Hamilton told the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee that Republican Gov. Paul LePage will propose such ideas in upcoming legislation. LePage’s office said he could call lawmakers back into special session later this year.
Maine is struggling with increasing reports of alleged child abuse and neglect. Hamilton said caseworkers’ workloads have spiked as call volumes increase and new policy changes require more assessments of some allegations.
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.