Sen. Baldacci introduces bill to help parents caring for children with disabilities
AUGUSTA — On March 24, Sen. Joe Baldacci, D-Bangor, introduced LD 874, “An Act to Address the Shortage of Direct Care Workers for Children with Disabilities in Maine.” The bill was the subject of a public hearing before the Committee on Health and Human Services. This bill would allow for the reimbursement of a parent providing in-home personal care to their child.
“This isn’t just about paying a parent to take care of a child, but a larger picture about trying to discourage children from having to be moved out of their homes and trying to help parents, who oftentimes have to quit their jobs, to try to maintain some sanity in their lives,” said Sen. Baldacci. “This is an important issue for hundreds of families, this could make a positive difference for so many people, and I think that this is important enough to request a waiver form the federal government.”
LD 874 allows for parents of children to receive reimbursement for providing services to their children, so long as the parents have made a reasonable effort to obtain regular in-home personal care, and have satisfied the requirements of the applicable background check required for providers of in-home personal services, and so long as the child is eligible for MaineCare.
Carrie Woodcock of the Maine Parent Federation testified in favor of the legislation.
“LD 874 looks to address multiple needs in our state while at the same increasing positive outcomes for these children and their families,” said Woodcock. “Waitlists for services such as nursing care and residential and community-based support are long. In fact, in a letter from the Department of Justice on June 22, 2022 Maine was put on notice that due to the lack of availability of these services we are currently in violation of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). LD 874 would instruct the Department of Health and Human Services to apply for a federal waiver which would enable the state to qualify family members to provide and be paid for the services they are currently sitting on waitlists to receive. In doing so the State would be addressing part of the workforce shortage that is creating the waitlists, a problem we have seen arise in many bills this legislative session.”
The bill was also favored by Laura Cordes of the Maine Association for Community Service Providers.
“There are hundreds of children on waitlists for Section 28 and similar services living at home and unable to access this critical care,” said Cordes. “These are not children who are waiting to be authorized for services; these are children who have been determined eligible for the service and cannot find a provider with the capacity to help them. Until we can address the access issues in children’s services, we must offer Maine families the tools they need to support their children. By creating certification and funding pathways, we give our parents the opportunity to better support their children as caregivers and providers; we lessen the financial stress and prevent the inevitable choice facing families today to leave their children without appropriate care.”
The bill faces further action in committee.