Bellows bill would increase staffing for Child Welfare Services Ombudsman Program

A bill sponsored by Sen. Shenna Bellows, D-Manchester, would add four staff people to the Child Welfare Services Ombudsman’s office. LD 1094, “An Act To Increase Funding for Staffing for the Child Welfare Services Ombudsman Program,” was the subject of a public hearing in the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Monday.

“The recent news about the startling number of children dying from potential abuse and neglect is alarming,” said Sen. Bellows. “Four additional positions in the child welfare ombudsman’s office is a very modest but necessary increase.”

Reporting from the Bangor Daily News revealed that “since January 2017, at least 22 children between the ages of 20 days and 10 years old died after the state’s child protective services system received concerns about abuse or neglect involving their families, according to data from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.”

The Child Welfare Ombudsman Program was established in 2001 based upon data from 1999, a year in which there were 4,450 referrals that were screened in and investigated, of which 2,349 resulted in findings of substantiated abuse or neglect. In 2018, there were 26,636 referrals, of which 11,638 were assigned for investigation. This is more than 5 times what the volume was from when the program was established.

LD 1094 would add at least four people including at least one administrative support person, one attorney and two professionals to handle intake and investigation of complaints.

The bill faces further action in the committee, as well as votes in the Maine Senate and House.