Staff Report

Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart interviews Senator Jeff Timberlake, Senate Republican Lead on the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee and Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. 

Stewart: Child welfare is something that makes a lot of headlines in Maine, unfortunately, usually when things go really poorly and result in tragedy. For folks that are listening, I think it would be helpful to have a baseline understanding of what the state’s responsibility is as it relates to child welfare here in Maine.

Timberlake: When we look at the Office of Child and Family Services, which is in charge of our children’s welfare in the state, we have different [mandatory] reporters that are required to report in specific cases when they see something go wrong — from doctors to schoolteachers to daycares to parents and grandparents to police and law enforcement. They will file a report with the Office of Child and Family Services, and then it’s their job to follow up.

When you look back at all the reports that we get from the ombudsman’s report to the federal report, politics aside, they’re not doing a very good job.

Stewart: Thirty-one deaths last year — kids in Maine. I think — and I know you do, too — that one is too many. What are some examples of what’s happening in Maine that you’re seeing come across your desk?

Timberlake: The federal government has a standard of reunification. The federal government wants states at 46 percent reunification — that’s where the state is supposed to be. There’s a great push for reunification; and, of course, I want every kid reunified with their parent if there is a safe household. I think we all want that.

Part of the problem that I see is the forced reunification. They sometimes overplay it. The other problem is that after six months, if they haven’t done reunification, they’re supposed to do a permanent removal of these children. That’s written into our laws in the State of Maine.

We’ve got kids in the state who are a year and a half to two years out who haven’t had the permanent removal so they can be adopted and moved into a safe home. I see that as another huge part of the problem. This isn’t being done the way the law demands and in a timely fashion, so these kids are left in very bad predicaments and in the wrong households.

Stewart: Everyone agrees that one kid dying in Maine, when we know, when the warning signs are there and when we should have done something, is too many. I do think it’s going to take a change in leadership for this to be fixed.

 I thank you for your leadership on this issue, and I know you’ve spent many years on it. Any parting thoughts on what the future would look like under a Republican-controlled state and how we’d be doing things differently?

Timberlake: The first thing we’d do is listen to the people. We’d listen to the experts in the field who are telling us we don’t have enough mental health [services] out there. There have been some proposals put forward from the Government Oversight Committee that address these problems. One example is the idea of building a children’s safe house, so we have a place to take these children, where the state is set up with people to man it. So, when a child is in distress, they have someplace to go. We don’t have that today.

We have children who are going to foster parents without their medication. The foster parents have no idea what medications the kids are prescribed. We have an archaic computer system called Katahdin, which is a total failure that we’ve invested millions and millions of dollars into. We’ve got a lot of things that need to be addressed. These are just a few, but we need to listen to the people in the field.

I think the first thing we’d do as Republicans is listen to those people and address their concerns and listen to the reports from the ombudsman and the federal government. I think it’s important we listen to these people because they’re telling a true story.

Stewart: Senator Timberlake, thank you for your many years of service and your leadership on this issue. I think it’s incredibly important. I know there are a lot of families in Maine that appreciate what you and the other Republicans on the Government Oversight Committee are doing. And I know that when Republicans take control of the state, we will be implementing these reforms; and we will have a brighter future for our kids who desperately need someone to be standing up and fighting for them.

Timberlake: Senator, I thank you for bringing this forward and making this part of our message because it’s very important. I thank you for your leadership within the caucus and for giving us the ability to get this message out there.

Senator Harold “Trey” Stewart III represents District 2, which includes communities in Aroostook and Penobscot counties. He is the Senate Republican Leader and a member of the Legislative Council.

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