Chief justice says DHS could do a better job

AUGUSTA – Chief Justice Daniel Wathen of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court outlined the most recent year’s child protection caseload for the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee on Wednesday.

The committee has been looking into the workings of the state’s child protective system in the aftermath of the January death of a 5-year-old foster child, Logan Marr, in Chelsea.

“The current system does an adequate job. It could do a better job,” Wathen said, suggesting “more aggressive” purchasing of services by the state for people involved in proceedings with the court or the Department of Human Services.

He also suggested that more staff to deal with child protection cases would probably help.

At the same time, Wathen added, “I’m in no position to second-guess DHS.”

Wathen told the committee that 16,439 families were referred to DHS in 2000 for possible child abuse or neglect, and that just over half were “determined appropriate for some kind of child protective assessment.”

Wathen said the court placed 989 children in DHS custody last year, while 877 children left DHS custody during the same time.

He said parental rights involving 538 children were terminated.