By Sen. Jeff Timberlake

The Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) has built a terrible record in managing the safety and welfare of at-risk children in our state. Watching OCFS deteriorate over the years has been heartbreaking, much like watching the Titanic creep toward the iceberg responsible for its doom in real time and without the ability to change its course.

Yet there’s hope the well-documented failures of Maine’s child welfare agency may soon come to an end. A recent presentation by its newly appointed director outlining some anticipated changes shows there may be a chance for OCFS to avoid the iceberg after all.

Hello, this is Senator Jeff Timberlake of Androscoggin County. It’s my pleasure to join you for this week’s Republican Radio Address.

In the past three years, more children with whom OCFS was involved have died than in the previous six years combined. Let me put that into perspective – 99 children with OCFS involvement have died since 2020, including nine so far this year.

The situation led the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee, of which I am a member, to begin an investigation into these cases starting in 2021. What we uncovered in the years since is the numbers didn’t lie. There were real systemic problems within OCFS, all validated by Maine’s Child Welfare Ombudsman who found “substantial issues” in more than half of the cases she reviewed over the past three years.

When we conducted public hearings last year, we found the problems began with leadership – well, at least the former director of OCFS who resigned last year after his employees testified that they “work within a broken system” and were “being reviewed to death.” Some even described their office as a “war zone” and OCFS itself as a “sinking ship.”

Maybe he got the hint, as well as the top person in charge at the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) who allowed this toxic culture to fester. She just left on Friday; but I digress.

I originally put a bill in to completely separate the child welfare division from DHHS. While LD 779 was tabled and never got a vote in the House, the goal of the bill was simple: Let’s at least start the discussion of what a rebuilt OCFS – one that is more efficient and effective – would look like. Nothing else we’ve tried over the years has worked and a drastic change is needed.

Remarkably, though, that discussion is happening now. Before the DHHS commissioner rode off in the sunset, she put a person in charge of OCFS who had come from the trenches. It didn’t take long for new OCFS Director Bobbi Johnson to at least get some outside advice.

A recent assessment conducted by Public Consulting Group (PCG) confirmed many of the same operational and leadership challenges we identified during our Government Oversight hearings. The report released by Johnson this week also outlined a host of structural changes that are needed for OCFS to be successful.

Much of the assessment involved a clear lack of decision-making authority, especially critical when determining a child’s safety risk during initial investigations and subsequent reunification efforts. It also showed a lack of feedback when decisions made by frontline staff were reversed by upper management.

That’s like trying to steer a ship and not giving the navigator any coordinates or direction to steer by. Poor communication is not a good way to operate by any means, whatsoever.

Most importantly, the report showed that current leadership is structured geographically, not by core functions or processes. Anyone who is in the private sector will tell you that grouping similar core functions into a singular focused department or section is the best way to operate. Manufacturing is not the same as sales or distribution.

That said, there are gaps in the report that would still need to be addressed. PCG identified some district administrators who operated better than others through cross-functional teams, much like how an emergency department operates. That should be made universal.

But with OCFS under new leadership and armed with at least a basic plan that only validates what the Legislature’s investigation already found, we have a unique opportunity to right the ship. However, let’s be clear – the anchor rope is quite short.

I’ve long said that OCFS must get it right – if they don’t, children die. Because of the years of failures that have already happened, a lot of trust has to be rebuilt; and there’s only a short time to do it.

Still, we should all wish for success. Precious children who are at risk depend upon it.

I thank you all. Have a great weekend. This is Senator Jeff Timberlake.

Senator Jeff Timberlake represents District 17, which includes communities in Androscoggin and Kennebec counties. He is the Senate Republican Lead for the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, and a member of the Government Oversight Committee.