Maine DHHS says it's taking action in response to recent child deaths

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services says it’s taking action following the deaths of four young children in Maine over the past month.

The department has asked Casey Family Programs, a “national leader in improving child safety and the wellbeing of children” to help investigate.

 Maine DHHS says it's taking action in response to recent child deaths

Well it's good to know that they're on top of things. 

Gov. Mills vetoes bill that would have closed Long Creek Youth Development Center

One bill that she vetoed would have closed the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. Mills called the bill, LD 1668, "fundamentally flawed" saying it would force "the closure of the State's only secure confinement option for juvenile offenders before safe and appropriate alternatives will be available."

Gov. Mills vetoes bill that would have closed Long Creek Youth Development Center 

Maine's Department of Education's Special Education Director, Ms. Erin Frazier is a Child Abuser

Maine's new director of Special Education for the States Department of Education, Erin Frazier is a child abuser.  I will gladly testify to this fact.

During the 2011/2012 school year, while she was the director at West School Day Treatment Program in Portland, my daughter who was 9 years old at the time was sent home with finger-shaped bruises on her arms regularly from being manhandled by Ms. Frazier and her staff.  Ms. Frazier also once pushed my daughter into a seclusion room, causing her to fall over backward and hit her head off of a brick wall.  The school nurse had to check her for a concussion after.  

After I filed a formal written complaint to Portland Public Schools about the brick wall incident, Ms. Frazier retaliated by authorizing a false report to Child Protective Services against me.  Then she went about butt-covering including falsifying school records, and changing incident reports, etc.  

Now she is running the special education department in Maine.  She, in my opinion, shouldn't be running anything but a cell block.

I only found out about Ms. Frazier's new position when another parent reached out to me after seeing a comment that I left about her a couple of years ago on a news article.  

More: York’s SPED director leaves to take top state job

If you have any experience dealing with Erin Frazier, please contact Jessica Nixon at the Maine DOE Commissioner's office.  Jessica.Nixon@maine.gov

Also, if you would like to share your story on this blog regarding Ms. Frazier, email me: Patism66@gmail.com

Maine has more work to do to help families in crisis

The Maine Legislature has increasingly recognized the important role that extended family members can play in the lives of kids whose parents are unable to take care of them. But these relative caregivers are still not receiving all of the help they need.

As we’ve seen in headlines in recent years, many Maine families are facing tough questions about the care of children whose parents are struggling with substance use disorders and related problems such as homelessness, poverty, illness, and incarceration. Members of children’s extended family — grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings — frequently need to step in, often in emergencies, to take them into their care. In some cases, the relatives do so at the request of the Department of Health and Human Services, and in others, the family attempts to address the child’s needs on its own.

More >> Maine has more work to do to help families in crisis

Report: Number Of Abused and Neglected Maine Children Rose Last Year

More than 2,600 Maine children were abused in 2018, according to a report published this month by the state’s Child Protective Services. That’s a nearly 25 percent increase from the year before, but officials say the higher number is not surprising.

Increased awareness after the high-profile deaths of 4-year-old Kendall Chick and 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy likely drove the spike in referrals of suspected abuse to the state in 2018, according to the report.

More >> Report: Number Of Abused and Neglected Maine Children Rose Last Year

Governor Signs Bill Lowering Compulsory School Attendance to Age 6

On June 28, Governor Janet Mills signed a bill dropping the starting age for compulsory school attendance in Maine from age 7 to age 6, effective September 19, 2019. As before, if a child age 5 is enrolled in public school, the child is subject to compulsory attendance until he is withdrawn.

What a difference a governor can make.

More >> Governor Signs Bill Lowering Compulsory School Attendance to Age 6

The man charged with beating 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy to death back in February of 2018 is expected to plead guilty Monday afternoon in Waldo County Superior Court.

More >> Marissa Kennedy's accused killer to face judge, plead guilty Monday