An Act to Support Families by Improving the Court Process for
Maine Legislature, Session 132, LD 1544
Committee: Judiciary
Sponsors: BAILEY, KUHN
Amends: 22 MRSA §4002, 22 MRSA §4034, 22 MRSA §4052, 22 MRSA §4055

Legislative Document
No. 1544
S.P. 628
In Senate, April 10, 2025
An Act to Support Families by Improving the Court Process for 
Child Protection Cases
Reference to the Committee on Judiciary suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BAILEY of York.
Cosponsored by Representative KUHN of Falmouth and
Senators: CARNEY of Cumberland, MOORE of Washington, Representatives: MEYER of 
Eliot, SINCLAIR of Bath, STOVER of Boothbay.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  22 MRSA §4002, sub-§1-B, ¶C, as enacted by PL 1997, c. 715, Pt. B, §1, 
is repealed.
Sec. 2.  22 MRSA §4034, sub-§1, as amended by PL 2015, c. 501, §9, is repealed 
and the following enacted in its place:
1.  Request.  A petitioner may add to a child protection petition a request for a 
preliminary protection order or may request a preliminary protection order separately from 
the child protection petition.  A request for a preliminary protection order must be sworn 
and must include at least the following:
A. A summary of facts to support the request;
B. A detailed summary of how the department weighed the trauma to the child of 
removal from the child's home against the alleged immediate risk of serious harm to 
the child and the specific factors the department considered; and 
C. The specific services offered and provided under section 4036‑B, subsection 3 to 
prevent the removal of the child from the child's home.
Sec. 3.  22 MRSA §4034, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2001, c. 696, §25, is further 
amended to read:
2.  Order.  If the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence presented in the sworn 
summary or otherwise that there is an immediate risk of serious harm to the child, it may 
order any disposition under section 4036. In considering whether to grant a preliminary 
protection order, the court shall consider the trauma to the child of removal from the child's 
home and whether the department has exhausted the options to mitigate the immediate risk 
of serious harm to the child and avoid the removal of the child from the child's home. A 
preliminary protection order automatically expires at the time of the issuing of a final 
protection order under section 4035 or a judicial review order under section 4038.
Sec. 4.  22 MRSA §4034, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2015, c. 501, §10, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Summary preliminary hearing.  The court shall schedule hold a summary 
preliminary hearing on a preliminary protection order within 14 days but not less than 7 
days after issuance of the preliminary protection order, except that counsel for a parent may 
request that the hearing take place sooner.  Upon request of counsel, the court may conduct 
the summary preliminary hearing as expeditiously as the court determines the interests of 
justice require.  If a parent, custodian or legal guardian appears for the summary 
preliminary hearing and does not consent to the preliminary protection order, the court shall 
conduct a hearing at which the petitioner bears the burden of proof.  At a summary 
preliminary hearing, the court shall consider the trauma to the child of removal from the 
child's home in determining whether to continue the preliminary protection order and 
whether the department has exhausted the options to mitigate the immediate risk of serious 
harm to the child and avoid the removal of the child from the child's home. The court may 
limit testimony to the testimony of the caseworker, parent, custodian, legal guardian, 
guardian ad litem, foster parent, preadoptive parent or relative providing care and may 
admit evidence, including reports and records, that would otherwise be inadmissable as 
hearsay evidence.  If after the hearing the court finds by a preponderance of the evidence 
that returning the child to the child's custodian would place the child in immediate risk of 
serious harm, it shall continue the order or make another disposition under section 4036. In 
any order after a summary preliminary hearing, the court shall make findings as to whether 
the risk of harm to the child is outweighed by the trauma of the child's removal from the 
child's home and whether the department has exhausted the options to mitigate the 
immediate risk of serious harm and avoid the removal of the child from the child's home. 
If the court's preliminary protection order includes a finding of an aggravating factor, the 
court may order the department not to commence reunification or to cease reunification, in 
which case the court shall conduct a hearing on jeopardy and conduct a permanency 
planning hearing.  The hearings must commence within 30 days of entry of the preliminary 
protection order.
If the petitioner has not been able to serve a parent, custodian or legal guardian before the 
scheduled summary preliminary hearing, the parent, custodian or legal guardian may 
request a subsequent summary preliminary hearing within 10 days after receipt of the 
petition.
Sec. 5.  22 MRSA §4052, sub-§3, ¶E-1 is enacted to read:
E-1.  A detailed statement of the specific reasonable efforts the department has made 
to rehabilitate and reunify the child with the child's parent;
Sec. 6.  22 MRSA §4055, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2021, c. 340, §5, is further 
amended by amending subparagraph (2), division (a) to read:
(a)  Termination is in the best interest of the child; and
Sec. 7.  22 MRSA §4055, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2021, c. 340, §5, is further 
amended by amending subparagraph (2), division (b), subdivision (iv) to read:
(iv)  The parent has failed to make a good faith effort to rehabilitate and 
reunify with the child pursuant to section 4041; or and
Sec. 8.  22 MRSA §4055, sub-§1, ¶B, as amended by PL 2021, c. 340, §5, is 
amended by enacting a new subparagraph (2), division (c) to read:
(c)  The department has fulfilled the Legislature's intent set out in section 4003, 
subsection 3 and the department's obligations under section 4041, subsection 
1-A, to provide reasonable efforts to rehabilitate and reunify the parent and the 
child; or
Sec. 9.  22 MRSA §4055, sub-§1-A, ¶D, as enacted by PL 1995, c. 481, §4, is 
amended to read:
D.  The child has been placed in the legal custody or care of the department, the court 
has previously terminated parental rights to another child who is a member of the same 
family and the parent continues to lack the ability or willingness to show the court that 
the parent has sought services that would rehabilitate the parent or the parent can not 
cannot show evidence that an additional period of services would result in reunification 
in a time reasonably calculated to meet the needs of the child and the child's need for a 
permanent home; or
SUMMARY
This bill amends the court process in child protection cases by eliminating as an 
aggravating factor consideration of whether a parent's rights to another child were 
previously involuntarily terminated; requiring the court to consider the trauma to the child 
of removal from the child's home and whether the Department of Health and Human 
Services exhausted its options to mitigate that harm before removing the child; and at a 
contested termination of parental rights hearing, requiring the court to explicitly make 
findings that the department met its statutory obligations to provide reasonable efforts to 
reunify the child and parent before ordering a termination of the parent's rights.