Working together for Maine children

To the Editor;

Ensuring that children grow up safe and healthy is among the highest responsibilities of our state and society. When children are put at risk, the state’s child welfare system plays an essential role in stepping in to safeguard their wellbeing. This can happen in a number of ways – supporting families with services to help give them tools to be healthy and stable, temporarily removing children from the home and working toward a safe reunification, or sometimes, making that removal permanent and finding a safe and healthy home with another family member or adoptive family. This system is most effective when the many individuals devoted to keeping children safe work collaboratively toward this shared goal, among them the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine’s Child Welfare Ombudsman, and the Legislature.

A productive and open relationship between the Department and these stakeholders benefits the Maine children and families we serve, as well as our community as a whole. As we move forward with comprehensive and independent reviews to learn all we can from recent tragic child deaths, we remain committed to maintaining these relationships and contributing to a public conversation that supports critical yet constructive analyses that inform potential practice improvements to keep kids safe. As we do so, we express our ongoing support and appreciation for the contributions of all those on the front lines dedicated to the wellbeing of Maine children.

Jeanne Lambrew

Commissioner 

Maine Department of Health and Human Services

Augusta