AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER Maine) - There are at least three agencies looking into DHHS' handling of Marissa Kennedy's abuse case before she was brutally beaten to death, allegedly by her mother and stepfather.
It's one Maine agency's job to look at these cases every single day - not just when it's in the headlines. The Child Death and Serious Injury Review Panel consists of 20 volunteers. They're police officers, social workers, doctors, medical examiners, and more.
The group meets once a month to review serious cases of child abuse that ends in serious injury or death in our state. It's not an easy job, but it's a noble one. "Nobody likes to review autopsy reports and police reports and confessions, and hearing about all the awful things people do to kids," said Chair Mark Moran. He's a licensed clinical social worker at Eastern Maine Medical Center.
Some members of the legislature, and some members of Governor LePage's administration have called for CDSIRP to review the cases of Marissa Kennedy and Kendall Chick. Both girls, ages 10 and 4 respectively, were allegedly beaten to death by family members.
The panel doesn't typically conduct quick 'emergency' investigations, but rather, meets monthly and absorbs difficult cases as they come. It publishes a formal report with improvements and recommendations on a bi-annual basis.
Child Death Review Panel report by NEWSCENTER26 on Scribd
Typically, the panel would have to wait until after the homicide investigation is complete, and both Sharon Carrillo and Julio Carrillo have gone through the court process. The only way this would change is if Attorney General Janet Mills makes a special exception.
Still, the panel plans to investigate DHHS' handling of Marissa and Kendall's cases as soon as it can. "That's really what our panel is primarily interested in," Moran said. "How do we fix things and make it better?"
Moran says he understands the public's demand for answers about Marissa Kennedy, but he also supports the DHHS Commissioner's decision to keep the case private for now.