The Legislature’s watchdog committee must decide if it is worth pursuing sensitive information related to four child deaths last year after the state denied a request for those documents last week.
The Democratic co-chairs of the Legislature’s Government Oversight Committee sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services in July requesting child protective files related to four cases in which parents are accused of killing their children in the last year, including the well-publicized 2021 death of 3-year-old Maddox Williams of Stockton Springs.
The administration of Gov. Janet Mills rejected the request earlier this month. Lawmakers must now decide on how badly they wish to seek the documents in an election year around a policy area that has dogged both Mills and her Republican opponent, former Gov. Paul LePage, after spates of child deaths over the past five years.
Republican leaders are signaling a harder line on the issue, putting forward the idea that lawmakers could subpoena the state and battle them in court. But a top Democrat on the watchdog panel believes the committee can do its work and wait for trials to come in the cases, after which lawmakers and the public may be privy to more information.
Reviewing case files was floated earlier this year as lawmakers investigating the system were frustrated by ongoing reports of systemic issues at the Office of Child and Family Services. The committee believed state law allows the typically confidential information to be released to it without identifying information and reviewed under executive session to maintain privacy.
But in a Friday letter to the co-chairs, Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew cited an earlier letter from Attorney General Aaron Frey’s office saying only staff at Maine’s government watchdog agency — not the lawmakers who direct them — could view the confidential child welfare files. She also said releasing it could compromise prosecutions in those cases.
“Any dissemination of information relating to criminal cases, intentional or not, could undermine the purposes of those proceedings — to obtain justice for the child victims,” Lambrew wrote.
The committee will use its September meeting to discuss how to move forward, said Sen. Nate Libby, D-Lewiston, who co-chairs the panel. He noted one of the options could be to follow the state’s interpretation and direct the Legislature’s Office of Program Evaluation and Government Accountability to summarize the documents, which could take time for the busy agency.
Tension built between committee members and the state in the past year. The child welfare office has been under fire after reports found that caseworkers are still struggling with initial risk assessments and whether reunification is safe for children. Some lawmakers have accused the state of being defensive, although others have said critics should wait for changes to take effect.
The denial is frustrating but something lawmakers can work around, said Rep. Holly Stover, D-Boothbay, who also co-chairs the panel. She noted the trial is expected to begin in October in a murder case against Jessica Trefethen, Williams’ mother. The other killings at the heart of the committee’s request are those of 6-week-old Jayden Harding, 3-year-old Hailey Goding and 1-month-old Sylus Melvin.
The state typically waits until after child death cases are adjudicated before releasing limited information about cases. Stover said it is ultimately most important that the state have the ability to prosecute the cases to their full extent.
“It’s uncommon to have that information handed over and we have to respect that,” Stover said.
But lawmakers could take a more aggressive approach, Senate Minority Leader Jeff Timberlake, R-Turner, suggested. The oversight panel is allowed to subpoena files from the state, though he cautioned that approach would take money and time. Rep. Amy Arata, R-New Gloucester, who is on the committee, said that would be worth it if it led to valuable information.
“We have been waiting for information for a long time,” she said. “I don’t know if it’s worth it to keep waiting.”