PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - The deaths of at least 18 children killed in Maine homes where child welfare officials knew they were in dangerous situations highlights major holes in how the state handles child abuse cases, according to recently released state records.
The records, first reported last week by the Portland Press Herald by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, show at least 18 children died as a result of homicides.
The causes of death for an additional 34 children living in homes where reports of abuse or neglect had been substantiated were ruled accidental or of natural causes since 2007, when the department automated its child protective system.
Maine doesn’t submit data on child fatalities to the federal government, making it difficult to compare to other states.
Between 2008 and 2016, the overall number of abuse and neglect cases in Maine declined slightly while the confirmed cases of physical abuse increased by 52%, according to the state health department.
There have been calls to reform Maine’s child welfare system since two children on the department’s radar were killed.
A 44-year-old Wiscasset woman was recently sentenced to 50 years in prison in the December 2017 fatal beating of Kendall Chick, a 4-year-old girl in her care.
Ten-year-old Marissa Kennedy died in February 2018, and authorities allege she died after being beaten for months by her mother and stepfather who tried to make her death look like an accident. Sharon and Julio Carrillo were charged with murder earlier this year in Kennedy’s death. They have both pleaded not guilty.
The records released last week do not include Kennedy’s death.
Since those high-profile cases, state lawmakers have boosted funding for caseworkers and changed how the state tackles investigations into alleged child abuse, including hiring more caseworkers and providing extra home visits from public health nurses.
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