A new bill aims to fill gaps within Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services by having it check in regularly with the state’s Government Oversight Committee.
Sen. Bill Diamond (D) Windham, submitted LD 1554. Its work session comes just days after new documents shed light on the State’s involvement leading up to the death of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy.
Those documents released by the state outline a pattern that one caseworker pointed out, suggested to them there was possibly domestic violence in the home. We counted 38 separate reports made to Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services within a 16-month period.
There were two instances where three or more of those reports came in within 24 hours of each other.
Senator Diamond said no matter how much time passes, what happened still haunts him.
“This literally keeps me awake at night thinking... ‘oh my gosh, anybody else out there that is on the verge of being beaten to death... we're not going to know until they die'," Sen. Diamond said.
Diamond is no stranger to the cases of Marissa Kennedy and Kendall Chick. Having served on the Government Oversight Committee for nearly a decade, he and his colleagues were tasked with reviewing them to ultimately see what went wrong.
The state has made changes since their deaths, between hiring on more staff and increasing training. Diamond said it's a start but it's not enough.
“What I'm so afraid we are going to do is say ‘oh good, we've added 32 caseworkers… 20 more caseworkers... now DHHS go solve the problem’,” Diamond said. “It ain't gonna happen as they say.”
Diamond believes more oversight and having the department check in every four months with the Government Oversight Committee about challenges its facing could help, especially when it comes to recognizing a high-risk situation.
The bill he sponsored would do this. He's hoping believes new legislation is just the beginning of the work that needs to be done but said it's a solution everyone needs to be a part of.
“We have to hold hands on this and then share responsibility because when someone dies we look at the department and say...‘you guys really screwed up again’,” Diamond said. “But we should look at us, all of us together, we are not doing the job we should do.”