“I do feel confident that with the changes that we’ve made to our policies, to our practices and to our technology that another audit would produce different results,” said OCFS Director Bobbi Johnson. (Photo by Getty Images)
A federal audit of Maine’s child welfare system found that more than nine out of 10 abuse and neglect investigations failed to comply with best practices in assessing a child’s safety or wellbeing.
After reviewing a sample of reported child abuse or neglect cases from 2021 and 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General found that Maine did not comply with at least one requirement for the immediate screening, risk and safety assessments, and investigations in 94% of cases.
“Failure to comply with requirements places the children’s health and safety at risk,” states a report on the agency’s findings released earlier this month.
The audit is the latest illustration of how Maine’s child welfare system has faced scrutiny for its failures in recent years, including during the last legislative session when there were numerous recommendations for improvements and an unsuccessful attempt to restructure the system. Earlier this year, the state’s Office of Child and Family Services came under new leadership that has brought about changes it hopes will quell the concerns.
In the time that has passed since the specific abuse and neglect investigations, the state Department of Health and Human Services, which houses the child welfare agency, has taken steps to address staff workload concerns, improve the problematic software system and update procedures, according to a letter in response to the audit’s findings from Commissioner Sara Gagné-Holmes.
“I do feel confident that with the changes that we’ve made to our policies, to our practices and to our technology that another audit would produce different results,” said OCFS Director Bobbi Johnson, adding that she appreciates that the audit gave the agency an opportunity to learn more and look critically at Maine’s child welfare system.
Since Johnson was appointed as director in January, she has worked to improve the agency. Johnson said she has visited all of the OCFS district offices to hear from staff and has met with families and youth who have been involved with the system to learn from their experiences.
Confusion over policy, software system
The audit is part of a series from the federal inspector general examining how states are complying with Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act requirements. Maine was selected based on the agency’s risk assessment and a report by the Maine Child Welfare Ombudsman that identified substantial issues with adhering to best practices and policies.
The federal agency reviewed reports of child abuse and neglect filed in the state child welfare information system between October 2021 and September 2022. The audit looked at a random sample of 100 cases that were among the more than 10,700 reports filed in that timeframe.
Only six of the cases complied with all of the requirements around immediate screening, safety and investigation.
Among the cases out of compliance, the state nearly always failed to send a letter to each parent/caregiver or person responsible for the child within 10 days of the investigation finding decision. This happened in 92 cases.
Per department policy, this notification must be sent regardless of the outcome of the investigation. However, the inspector general report said OCFS officials stated they were unaware that the policy required written notification for every case, even if the reports of abuse were unsubstantiated.
Software meant to improve Maine’s broken child welfare system reportedly making it worse
In almost 60% of cases where a notification letter was reported as not having been sent, there was evidence to support the reports of abuse and neglect. However, Johnson explained to Maine Morning Star that the agency was able to produce most of these notification letters, but didn’t have documentation proving that they had been mailed.
However, notification letters weren’t the only issue of noncompliance. In about three out of every five cases reviewed, safety assessments were not completed. Other issues included not completing investigations and safety assessments within the required timeline, failing to conduct initial interviews with children and adults, and failing to complete a safety plan.
As for cases that missed the safety assessment timeline, OCFS officials explained to the inspector general that staff faced a steep learning curve with the new child welfare information system, known as Katahdin.
The inspector general report said the state gave many reasons for not complying, such as not understanding the requirements, staffing issues and technical difficulties with the information system.
OCFS launched the new child welfare software system in January 2022 — during the timeframe for which cases were included in the audit. While Katahdin was meant to replace an antiquated system, it was clunky and cumbersome. A report from the ombudsman brought the issues to light last December, and the agency has since said it has worked on improving the technology.
Ideas to improve Maine’s child welfare system
The inspector general report included five recommendations for the Office of Child and Family Services to improve upon the findings from the audit.
The first suggestion is additional training for caseworkers and supervisors, while the other four are to develop certain written policies and procedures that could address some of the noncompliance themes found in the audit. For example, there was a recommendation to require documentation in the child welfare software system to show that notification letters were sent.
OCFS agreed with the recommendations and described how it has or plans to take action to address them.
“The recommendations reflect many of the important steps OCFS has already taken, or is in the process of implementing, to improve our system of screening, investigating, and responding to reports of alleged abuse and/or neglect,” Gagné-Holmes wrote in her response.
As for the notification letter recommendation, the agency said it is working to update the child welfare software system to automatically create that correspondence and prompt staff to document when it sends the letters.
Throughout the year, OCFS has updated the Maine Legislature on changes at the agency, especially those targeting the staffing shortage that was a major concern of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee.
In July, Johnson reported fewer vacancies for caseworkers and case aides, highlighting a number of incentives that she believed are improving retention. And in September, there were reports of improved support for foster families and the agency contracted with a second child abuse pediatrician for increased capacity for consultations.
“When systems transformation is happening, part of what you do is that you continue to provide the best quality service to the families that we are serving today while we also look to continue to improve how we provide those services to families that may need our interventions in the future,” Johnson said.
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