An Act to Make Permanent the Submission of Certain Reports to the Legislature Concerning Child Welfare
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1325
Committee: Health and Human Services
Sponsors: MOORE, MEYER, JAVNER, ZAGER
Amends: 22 MRSA §4004, 22 MRSA §4010-D, 22 MRSA §5308-A

Legislative Document
No. 1325
S.P. 542
In Senate, March 27, 2023
An Act to Make Permanent the Submission of Certain Reports to 
the Legislature Concerning Child Welfare
Reference to the Committee on Health and Human Services suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator MOORE of Washington.
Cosponsored by Representative MEYER of Eliot and
Representatives: JAVNER of Chester, ZAGER of Portland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §4004, sub-§1, ¶E, as amended by PL 2021, c. 550, §1, is further 
amended to read:
E.  Establishing a child death and serious injury review panel for reviewing deaths and 
serious injuries to children.  The panel consists of the following members: the Chief 
Medical Examiner, a pediatrician, a public health nurse, forensic and community 
mental health clinicians, law enforcement officers, departmental child welfare staff, 
district attorneys, criminal or civil assistant attorneys general and the ombudsman 
pursuant to section 4087‑A or a designee of the ombudsman.
The purpose of the panel is to recommend to state and local agencies methods of 
improving the child protection system, including modifications of statutes, rules, 
policies and procedures. Beginning January 1, 2023 and every 2 years thereafter, the 
department shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over health and human services matters;.
The panel shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature 
having jurisdiction over health and human services matters at least every 3 months.  
The panel may submit a combined report with the child welfare advisory panel 
established in section 4010-D.  Any presentation of the report to the committee must 
be presented by the citizen members of the panels to the extent possible.  Each quarterly 
report must contain, at a minimum, the following:
(1)  A summary of generalized and anonymized observations in the prior 3-month 
period regarding efforts by the Office of Child and Family Services to improve the 
child welfare system;
(2)  A summary of the collaboration between the child welfare advisory panel and 
the child death and serious injury review panel as well as the judicial branch's 
Maine justice for children task force; and
(3)  Any recommendations on how to further protect the State's children through 
department policy and rulemaking and through legislation;
Sec. 2.  22 MRSA §4010-D, as enacted by PL 2019, c. 28, §1, is repealed and the 
following enacted in its place:
§4010-D.  Child welfare advisory panel; reports
1.  Department annual reports.  The department shall submit a report annually to the 
joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human 
services matters on the activities of and reports produced by the child welfare advisory 
panel formed pursuant to the federal Children's Justice Act, 42 United States Code, Section 
5106a to make policy and training recommendations for system improvements in the 
investigative, administrative and judicial handling of child abuse, neglect and exploitation 
cases and child maltreatment-related fatalities.
2.  Child welfare advisory panel quarterly reports.  The child welfare advisory panel 
shall submit a report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction 
over health and human services matters at least every 3 months.  The advisory panel may 
submit a combined report with the child death and serious injury review panel established 
in section 4004, subsection 1, paragraph E.  Any presentation of the report to the committee 
must be presented by the citizen members of the panels to the extent possible.  Each 
quarterly report must contain, at a minimum, the following:
A.  A summary of generalized and anonymized observations in the prior 3-month 
period regarding efforts by the Office of Child and Family Services to improve the 
child welfare system;
B.  A summary of the collaboration between the child welfare advisory panel and the 
child death and serious injury review panel as well as the judicial branch's Maine justice 
for children task force; and
C.  Any recommendations on how to further protect the State's children through 
department policy and rulemaking and through legislation.
Sec. 3.  22 MRSA §5308-A is enacted to read:
§5308-A.  Office of Child and Family Services reports
The Office of Child and Family Services shall submit a report to the joint standing 
committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters at 
least every 3 months. Each quarterly report must address the progress in implementing the 
recommendations of the report, "Collaborative Safety Review, Maine Office of Child and 
Family Services, Summary and Recommendations," completed for the department in 
October 2021, responses to recommendations from the child welfare advisory panel formed 
pursuant to section 4010-D and progress in efforts described in the department's annual 
report on child welfare under section 4010-D, subsection 1. The report must address, at 
minimum, the following:
1.  Prevention services.  Efforts to further coordinate and advance child welfare 
services in primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, as those prevention services are 
described by the Office of Child and Family Services;
2.  Family team meetings.  Efforts to expand the use and value of family team 
meetings;
3.  Policy development.  Efforts to expand the use of participation of people with lived 
experience in the development of policy regarding and operation of the child welfare 
system;
4.  Domestic violence and custody.  A review of the department's policies and 
practices regarding domestic violence and the ability of the nonoffending parent to assume 
custody of a child;
5.  Guardians ad litem.  Efforts to work with a guardian ad litem review board under 
the Board of Overseers of the Bar, the judicial branch and other interested parties to 
improve the training and support of guardians ad litem; and
6.  Recommendations.  Any recommendations on how to further protect the State's 
children through department policy and rulemaking and legislation.
SUMMARY
Resolve 2021, chapter 142 required the child welfare advisory panel and the child death 
and serious injury review panel to submit reports to the joint standing committee of the 
Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human services matters on the child welfare 
system and efforts to collaborate between the citizen review panels required by the federal 
Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. It also required the Department of Health and 
Human Services, Office of Child and Family Services to submit quarterly reports to the 
joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over health and human 
services matters regarding progress in implementing the recommendations of the Casey 
Family Programs and Collaborative Safety report completed for the department in October 
2021, responses to recommendations from the child welfare advisory panel established 
pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22, section 4010-D and progress in efforts 
described in the department's annual report on child welfare. The reports are required until 
June 30, 2024; this bill makes the reporting requirements permanent.