Lawmakers must be sure they aren’t taking action just for the sake of appearing to fix shortcomings in the state’s child protective services. Read More
The Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Maine Health and Human Services Commissioner Ricker Hamilton to its next meeting after Hamilton didn’t show up Thursday as promised to discuss the state’s response to the deaths of two young girls at the hands of their caregivers. Read More
“All of this duplication of effort, all this extra work is only further overloading DHHS, making it that much more likely that the workers are going to miss a case of a child in danger,” said Richard Wexler of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. Read More
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court wanted to know how prosecutors improperly handled out-of-state subpoenas, and whether their misstep damaged the chance of a fair trial for Sharon Carrillo. Read More
Attorneys representing Sharon Carrillo say the state’s actions put their client’s constitutional rights to a fair trial at risk. Read More
Problems within Child Protective Services predate the deaths of Marissa Kennedy and Kendall Chick, so is appropriate that solutions go beyond a focus on these two cases to address the much larger issues. Read More
Gov. Paul LePage said on Thursday he wants to steer Maine child welfare priorities away from family reunification and that he's willing to call legislators back to address a broken system after a legislative watchdog’s report on two recent child deaths. Read More
The report offers the most comprehensive study of Maine’s child welfare system to be publicly released since the deaths of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy in February and 4-year-old Kendall Chick in December. Read More
A woman accused of beating to death her 10-year-old daughter in Stockton Springs in February gave birth to a baby boy. Read More
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Monday agreed unanimously to hear the appeal on an expedited basis. Read More
Justice Robert Murray issued the order late Thursday night. Read More
A superior court justice is weighing whether to kick prosecutors off the case of a mother and stepfather accused of brutally beating 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy to death in Stockton Springs. Read More
A husband and wife accused of beating a 10-year-old girl to death in Stockton Springs pleaded not guilty to depraved indifference murder Monday in a Belfast courtroom. Read More
The Stockton Springs husband and wife accused of beating 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy to death are expected to plead not guilty on Monday following their arraignment. Read More
“It is important that in our review, we are taking a holistic look at areas possibly in need of improvement,” said DHHS spokeswoman Emily Spencer. Read More
Superior Court Justice Robert Murray gave prosecutors 48 hours to hand over any records they had received or would receive as a result of two subpoenas, and said any records they hand over would be sealed by the court. Read More
Sharon Carrillo's lawyer says investigators didn't follow proper procedure when requesting evidence that included confidential information. Read More
Maine’s children in most danger have felt the effects of an administration intent on rolling back government assistance to serve an ideology. Read More
