AUGUSTA – Gov. Angus King acknowledged Thursday that mistakes were made in overseeing care for a child who died in a foster home Jan. 31, but said Logan Marr’s death is not part of a pattern involving children in state custody.

“An absolutely terrible thing happened. The child was in our custody and it shouldn’t have happened,” King said when asked about 5-year-old Logan’s death in a Chelsea foster home.

King also said he “subscribes to” an apology written by Human Services Commissioner Kevin Concannon to the child’s mother, Christy Mae Baker of Dover-Foxcroft.

Sally Schofield, 39, is charged with manslaughter in the asphyxiation death of the child, who was in her care. King said Department of Human Services caseworkers did not visit Logan’s foster home as often as required by state policy, but said no more lapses of that nature will be tolerated.

“Will this happen in the future? No,” said the governor.

He also said an error was made in failing to follow up on the child’s statement that she had been squeezed in the face by her foster mother. “There were mistakes, and they didn’t follow their policies and they should have,” King said. But even if procedures were observed to the letter, there’s no way of telling whether Logan’s death would have been avoided, he said.

While he is still awaiting a final report on the matter, King said he is satisfied with the Human Services Department’s response so far.

He also said he sees no indication that too many children are removed from Maine homes and placed in foster homes, as some critics have charged, and defended Maine’s child-protective system. “I think it would be a mistake to say the system broke down,” he said.

King said that in 1995, his first year in office, roughly half of the 11,000 child-abuse complaints had not been investigated. The backlog has since been reduced to nothing, he said.