Beyond confidentiality

Department of Human Services Commissioner Kevin Concannon is correct in asserting that a comprehensive report on the death in January of foster child Logan Marr cannot, at this time, be made public. Members of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee also are correct for refusing to meet with the commissioner in closed session to review the report.

But this is hardly a case of two conflicting interests resulting in permanent impasse. With a manslaughter prosecution still pending against Sally Schofield, the foster mother who allegedly caused the 5-year-old girl to suffocate by binding her in a chair and covering her mouth with duct tape, discretion and patience are necessary to prevent a miscarriage of justice. Once the manslaughter charge against Mrs. Schofield is resolved, however, release of the full report should be expected, within the strictest interpretation of confidentiality laws.

It is important, though, that Mrs. Schofield’s right to her day in court not contribute to the public’s already considerable frustration and suspicion regarding Maine’s foster care system. Revelations from this particular case about irregularities and violations of DHS policy already have aggravated matters, and, unless great care is taken, the slow, deliberate nature of our justice system could add to the poisonous atmosphere.

The Legislature already has taken two important steps to prevent further erosion of public confidence by preparing to conduct its own investigations of the child-protective system. First, the House last week agreed to form an 11-member commission of lawmakers, lawyers, children’s advocates and DHS staff, with a District Court judge also participating, to examine how the state deals with children before removing them from their homes, what the standard of proof in custody decisions should be and to what extent the extremely secretive process can or should be made more open. This type of inquiry is vital and the commission’s funding request of less than $7,500 should be no obstacle.

Second, the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, working independently of the commission, will hold public hearings this summer in all 16 counties. While such hearings always run the risk of becoming gripe fests, circumstances demand that the public be given this opportunity to air its grievances for the record. These hearings should bring to the surface festering anger about the inexplicably high rate of out-of-family placements in Maine – 4,700 children in a state of just 1.25 million – and the indefensible disparity in family reunification rates within the state, from a low of 18 percent in poor Washington County to nearly double that in more affluent counties. Such a forum is long overdue and the committee deserves praise for offering it.

These two initiatives will require the full cooperation of DHS is they are to be fruitful. To that end, the department should work with its legal counsel to produce a version of the Logan Marr report that fully protects the rights and interests of all individuals involved but that sheds as much light as possible on the process that went so horribly wrong. And while the problematic confidentiality laws that protect the rights and interests of children, birth parents, foster parents and DHS workers may need revising, as a growing chorus of lawmakers and citizens asserts, that revision should wait until after these two legislative initiatives are complete and the full scope of the problem is known.