As I step into the position of permanent director of Maine’s Office of Child and Family Services, it’s important to me to share my vision for keeping Maine children safe. After 28 years in the field of child welfare, including becoming a kinship resource parent to a relative myself, I come to this role with deep gratitude for the opportunity to better help Maine families and an innate understanding of the challenges we face.

It starts with going back to the basics. I began my career 28 years ago as a caseworker in the Bangor OCFS Office. Over the years, I worked as a supervisor, assistant program administrator and program administrator in Bangor, before having the honor of stepping into the role of associate director of child welfare services in 2015. Several years ago, I had the privilege of being a kinship resource parent for my great niece who successfully reunified with her parents.

I know why people sign up for the difficult work of child welfare. They care for children and families. They have the interest, skills and training to help. They believe in public service. They want to make a difference.

But providing that help has become harder in recent years with an increase in substance use disorders, mental health problems in children and youth and deepened workforce challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Maine’s performance on some key child welfare metrics has worsened. We have not kept pace in adapting tools and supports for child welfare workers to meet these needs.

This has led to frustration. I feel it too. It can be hard to find hope in these difficult times.

That’s why I sought out this job, to renew optimism about the positive difference OCFS can make for Maine children and families. I have had the privilege of seeing parents make changes to ensure the safety of their children and reunify; family members step up to support relatives and provide care for their children; resource parents make a legal commitment to children and have them join their families permanently through adoption; and the strength that comes from OCFS, families and community partners collaborating to achieve successful outcomes.

My work will start with the most urgent problem: unmanageable caseloads. Building on suggestions from Lewiston staff, where the vacancy rates are the highest, we are expanding staff to coordinate placement of children, seeking alternatives to caseworkers for overtime coverage in hotels and emergency departments, reviewing the overtime policy and requesting administrative support for caseworkers. This team approach to casework makes sense and I will continue to build it.

Frontline workers also need to be included in teams with supervisors, administrators, and OCFS leadership to improve the system as well as their management of cases and caseloads. I plan to spend time in the coming months in district offices, with different types of workers to listen, respond to and communicate our plans.

My efforts will extend beyond the walls of OCFS. I will continue to leverage the voices of youth, young adults, and parents with lived experience to improve the system. I will increase engagement with resource and adoptive parents to strengthen support for them alongside kinship families. I will continue to ask service providers and partners, such as those participating in the Maine Child Welfare Action Network, for their insight into how I can strengthen the work of OCFS.

I will also lead an organizational and management audit of the child welfare division. Having come from this division, I want an objective, external and expert audit process to provide recommendations on whether we should change how we are organized, manage and communicate within OCFS. The results of the audit will serve as a roadmap as we hire a new associate director of child welfare services to take my place.

We have work to do. I look forward to reviewing recommendations from the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, the Health and Human Services Committee and others. And I thank Gov. Janet Mills for her ongoing support, including in the upcoming supplemental budget. I strongly believe that in 2024 we can turn the corner and return Maine to making progress in improving the child welfare system. By going back to the basics, we can move Maine forward for children and families.

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