Maine officials present expanded Child Safety and Family Well-being Plan, highlight prevention work and community campaigns

Good afternoon. State officials and community partners on Oct. 12 laid out Maine’s updated Child Safety and Family Well‑Being Plan, a five‑year roadmap the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Maine Child Welfare Action Network say is intended to reduce later child welfare involvement by strengthening families earlier.

The plan’s authors and presenters — Mariette Aborn, Special Projects Manager for Child and Family Well‑Being at DHHS; Christine Theriault, Program Manager for Family First Prevention Services; and Melissa Hackett, coordinator of the Maine Child Welfare Action Network — told the Health and Human Services Committee the plan centers parents, caregivers and communities and maps five strategies to two goals focused on prevention, timely access to services, family partnership and improved coordination between state and local partners.

The presenters said the first strategy prioritizes concrete economic supports—food, housing, child care, transportation and cash assistance—because material hardship is a major driver of crisis that can prompt child welfare involvement. “Keep children safe by keeping families strong,” Mariette Aborn said, summarizing the plan’s approach and its “movement”‑style framing.

Why it matters: presenters told lawmakers that many families contact child welfare only after needs have escalated; the plan aims to shift the system upstream so communities and non‑child‑welfare partners can provide support earlier. The plan builds on an initial May 2023 version and includes short‑term initiatives now in place and longer‑term measures that will require broad collaboration.

Key initiatives and early results - Be There For Me campaign: The plan’s outreach arm launched a campaign and resource website aimed at reducing stigma about asking for help. Melissa Hackett described the campaign’s materials (videos, rack cards and posters translated into a dozen languages) and said paid and organic social promotion generated more than 28 million impressions and roughly 19,000 site visits through January. Officials said website engagement averaged about 35 percent and the site has visitors from every county.

- Community‑based spaces and Prevention Councils: DHHS and the Maine Children’s Trust have worked with county prevention councils to inventory and strengthen community spaces—schools, community centers, food pantries and places of worship—that families use for support. The presenters said the councils engaged nearly 25,000 community members and identified nearly 700 community‑based spaces that met their locally defined framework.

- Mandated‑reporting review: DHHS and partner organizations described a review they launched in mid‑2024 of mandated‑reporting definitions, training and community pathways. Presenters said about 30,000 child protection intake calls were received in calendar year 2023; roughly one‑third were screened in for assessment, and 25 percent of those screened‑in reports resulted in findings. Presenters said less than 1 percent of screened‑out reports later had findings, a statistic they described as a check on intake screening while emphasizing the broader need to give mandated reporters clearer decision aids and options for community referrals.

Implementation and next steps Presenters told the committee they will track a set of indicators annually and issue a first implementation report in early 2026. Among short‑ and medium‑term priorities discussed were: revising mandated reporter training and creating decision tools (decision trees/key considerations), strengthening prevention councils and community collaborative networks, and developing clearer community pathways so families who do not meet criteria for an investigation can access supports more directly.

What presenters asked of lawmakers: continued partnership across agencies and support for legislative or budget steps that will help scale successful pilot efforts, improve training and sustain family‑led engagement work.

Ending: Committee members asked clarifying questions about intake data, mandated‑reporter training targets and campaign reach. Presenters offered to provide the committee with additional detail on survey results, county‑level findings from the prevention council work and the proposed indicators that will be included in the 2026 implementation report.