JOSH KEEFE/The Maine Monitor

The Maine Monitor
New federal data shows Maine’s child welfare agency is moving against national trends
Earlier this month, the independent watchdog monitoring Maine’s child welfare agency went before the legislature’s government oversight committee and admitted frustration.
 
The list of Maine parents waiting for a lawyer grew by 700 percent in 2024
Increasingly, they aren’t getting one. Over the course of 2024, the number of child protection cases in need of at least one attorney increased 700 percent, according to a list compiled by the judicial branch. On January 3 of last year, the state lacked attorneys for 14 cases, the list showed. On De
 
Maine’s watchdog agency spent years investigating four child deaths. Here are the takeaways.
The report found the caseworker was thorough and the steps taken met agency standards based on what was known at the time. But like the others before it, the report did little to answer the legislators’ most important question: What could the office have done differently to prevent the tragedy?
 
How seven wealthy summer residents halted workforce housing on Maine’s Mount Desert Island
It’s on the edge of the village, a short distance from the library and elementary school.
 
Public defender’s offices are opening across Maine. The next step: staffing them.
But Syzlvian cut her off, citing the time. “I’m very familiar with the case law,” Syzlvian said.
 
Across Maine, judges are deciding when the lack of an attorney becomes a constitutional violation
“The court finds that there has been a violation of his constitutional rights to counsel,” Nelson said. “It’s been an unreasonable period of time. This is a very serious case.”