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Maine’s current definition of neglect, which includes “deprivation of essential needs,” is easily conflated with poverty. Two proposals before the Legislature seek to update state law to better identify the children at risk of harm and prevent families from interacting with the child welfare system due to their financial situation.
“The ambiguous definition of neglect also subjects parents and caregivers to an investigation that mandates surveillance and oversight merely for being poor,” said Sen. Craig Hickman (D-Kennebec) when introducing his proposal to update the state’s definition of abuse and neglect.
Hickman’s bill (LD 891) and legislation from Rep. Michele Meyer (D-Eliot), LD 1406, both seek to decouple poverty with the state’s definition of abuse and neglect by clarifying that a child’s needs are willfully withheld. The idea is supported by former foster parents, child welfare advocates and legal organizations; however, some preferred LD 891 because they felt the proposed changes went further to address the issue.
Attorneys who work with families involved with the child welfare system also generally favored Hickman’s bill, sharing stories with the Health and Human Services Committee on Tuesday about cases they worked on that could have been avoided if the proposed changes had been in place.
The current law allows for families to be flagged for children missing medical appointments because parents don’t have reliable transportation or children having dirty or ill-fitting clothing, said Molly Owens, parents counsel division chief for the Maine Commission for Public Defense Services.
“These are cases where there’s no physical or sexual abuse, and children aren’t mistreated or willfully neglected,” Owens said. “Rather, the family is struggling to really and reliably provide basic necessities.”
Our current law places little value on a loving, low-income parent.
– Molly Owens, Maine Commission for Public Defense Services
She added that “our current law places little value on a loving, low-income parent.”
Equating poverty to parental neglect is not unique to Maine. In July 2024, the Biden administration released guidance that states should update their definitions of abuse and neglect to differentiate between a financial inability to provide adequate housing or other material needs.
Meyer said her bill was born out of advisory groups that included state agencies, child welfare advocates and other entities dedicated to keeping Maine children safe who looked into the state’s mandated reporting laws and how they affect families. The language in her proposal is modeled after the language Kentucky used to update its definition.
Even if the claims are unsubstantiated, Meyer said it is still traumatic for families to be reported to child protective services. Additionally, having to weed through reports of parents who can’t financially provide certain needs can mean less time for caseworkers to address situations where children face serious harm.
“If we continue to punish poverty, we will continue to have an overburdened system,” Owens said, speaking in favor of LD 891 and neither for nor against LD 1406.
Bobbi Johnson, the director of the Office of Child and Family Services, testified in support of Meyer’s bill, saying it is part of a broader effort to support families in need rather than getting them tangled up in the system. However, she said the child welfare agency is opposed to LD 891 because it inserts certain language that isn’t currently defined in statute and would limit the agency’s ability to intervene in certain accidental situations, even if they are connected to a larger concern about the child’s care.
Melissa Hackett, coordinator of the Maine Child Welfare Action Network, which also favored LD 1406 due to the input of the broad stakeholder group, encouraged committee members to consider the passion heard for both pieces of legislation.