Did Mary Mayhew Leave CMS To Cover Up Medicaid Fraud In Florida For The Right Price?

Now, why would Mary want to leave Maine and go to Florida to run their child welfare programs under Medicaid?

I know!

Money, money, money.

She is a corporate lobbyist, with a hospital background, deep down in her soul.

Perhaps DeSantis knows there is going to be a dark period which shall linger over Florida for what they have done to the children.

Perhaps Mary knows there is going to be a dark period dark period which shall linger over the U.S. for what they have done to the children.

Perhaps Mary was recruited to cover up Medicaid Fraud In Child Welfare.

Mayhew leaves Trump administration after less than 3 months for Florida post

Mary Mayhew

AUGUSTA, Maine — The former Maine health and human services commissioner who led a conservative transformation of the state’s welfare system under former Gov. Paul LePage has left her job overseeing the federal Medicaid program after less than three months.

Mary Mayhew was hired by the administration of President Donald Trump to run Medicaid in mid-October, but she resigned by Friday for a new post under Florida Gov.-elect Ron DeSantis, a Republican, according to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Mayhew, a former hospital lobbyist who ran the Maine Department of Health and Human Services under LePage from 2011 until 2017, became a Republican policy star and Democratic bogeyman during a tenure in which she oversaw steep reductions in the state’s welfare rolls and ran point on the former governor’s crusade against Medicaid expansion.

In a statement first reported on by The Washington Times, Mayhew said she was “grateful” for the federal job and the Trump administration’s “vision for state flexibility” in the Medicaid program made her want to return to administer programs at the state level.

Mayhew has Florida connections. She has traveled the country pushing conservative welfare policy for the Foundation for Government Accountability, an advocacy group based there and run by Maine native Tarren Bragdon, whose brother runs another firm that worked for the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary campaign in which Mayhew finished third of four candidates.

In Maine, much of Mayhew’s work looks slated to be reversed by Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who took over for the term-limited LePage on Wednesday after a Democratic wave election flipped the Blaine House, Maine’s 2nd Congressional District and the state Senate.

On the first full day of her tenure on Thursday, Mills fulfilled a campaign promise by directing the department Mayhew once ran to begin implementing Medicaid expansion to an estimated 70,000 Mainers under the Affordable Care Act, which was approved by voters in 2017.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

LK: A vote for the Republicans could be a vote for more kids being removed by CPS and thrown into foster care.

From out friends over at Legally Kidnapped:

A vote for the Republicans could be a vote for more kids being removed by CPS and thrown into foster care.

Why I'm writing this...

Politically speaking, I consider myself an independent and like to look for the good and bad in all candidates so that I can make an educated decision on who I want to vote for.  I vote for the person who is most concerned with issues that are important to me rather then the party, so to speak.  

Something that I've noticed over the last couple of years is that my Facebook friends list has become increasingly skewed to the right (outspoken conservatives, Republicans, Trump Supporters).  In fact, my news feed seems to be 3/4ths Conservative Propaganda these days and it's absolutely ridiculous to see on an anti-CPS page because in the state I live in, which is Maine, a vote for the Republicans is a vote for MORE kids being removed by Child Protective Services and thrown into foster care.

Duhhhhhh what? 

I'll say it again.  A vote for the Republicans in Maine, and probably nationally, IS a vote for more kids being ripped from their families by CPS and thrown into foster care.  Not only that but a vote for the Republicans is a vote for making it harder to get your kids back when they have been snatched by CPS. 

The result of 8 years of Republican Leadership in Maine...

I only say this because after almost 8 years of a Republican Administration and Republicans in control of the State Senate as well as the Republican pick to head DHHS, Ms Mary Mayhew, child removal and foster care numbers in Maine have shot up, anti-parent child abuse propaganda has increased and the services that had been used in the past to to either help reunify families or to help keep a child safe while still in the home have been cut or de-funded to almost nothing under the guise of welfare reform. 

• Child, family services organization shuts down program in Bangor, Harrington, Saco

As a result of Republican Policies, Maine's CPS workers have nothing to offer you anymore in terms of help or services to a family who  is under a CPS investigation, so they take the child and run instead because that's all they can do.  Maine's Republican Governor Paul LePage even recently signed a new bill into law which removes reunification with the family as a priority in child welfare proceedings, freeing up funds to give raises to CPS workers and increase foster care reimbursements, which are much more expensive in the long run.

Maine is now taking a more heavy handed approach to dealing with parents than they did in the past.  They are also taking more kids than they can handle because some of them are ending up in motel rooms. 

• Maine is removing more kids from their homes — often to stay in hotels — Maine Focus
• LePage budget should provide more funding to reunify families, not keep kids in foster care

Why do Family Rights people fear the Democrats?

Now, based on what I just said, the typical response of a parent whose family was destroyed by CPS would be something like this.  "Oh but Hillary Clinton," and "ASFA," and "bla bla bla."  Yes, one bad apple spoiled the whole bunch.  Hillary Clinton demonized a whole political party.

Perhaps you're thinking something like, "Trump signed Family First into law, and he did it to help families," which to his credit, he did sign it into law as part of a spending package, then pissed and whined about the democrats making him do it after. 

That said, Family First has its problems too, but the basic philosophy behind Family First is the exact same thing that Maine was doing under the Democrats which as recently as 2011 made Maine's Child Welfare System a National Model because of being leaders at keeping kids safe in the home.  This was done by providing the necessary family preservation services such as drug treatment, counseling, housing assistance or whatever it may be.  Family First freed up federal funding so that such family preservation services could be utilized instead of being specifically designated for foster care programs.  Something that Maine and the Republicans are desperately trying to move away from.

• 10 years after Logan’s death, Maine foster care is US model

By late 2017, Maine's Child Welfare System was and remains a mess to this day with the most horrific child abuse cases falling through the cracks while the parents who just need a little help getting their shit together are being left in the dust with little hope or chance of ever seeing their families together again. 

• Maine faces rising allegations of child abuse, neglect
• Another View: Child protective system should include support for families

So the Democrats, in my opinion, currently have a better track record for helping to strengthen families and the Republicans have a better track record of heavy handedness and cuts to funding for services that help to strengthen families.  A recent example of how the Republicans want to handle things is Trump's or rather AG Jeff Sessions zero tolerance and family separation policies at the border which the Republicans love and support for some reason.  I think it's sad and pathetic, but just think of how much money the agencies are making off of the immigrant children they are caring for now. 

All of that said, for me, the final nail in the Republican coffin was when President Trump appointed Maine's former Commissioner of DHHS Mary Mayhew, a total CPS loving parent hater, to head the federal Medicaid Program.  The Family Rights groups should fiercely oppose this choice for that particular position because Family Preservation can not happen without the services that are often paid for by Medicaid.  Ms.  Mayhew has a seven year history of extreme cuts and de-funding of programs in Maine that helped families to stay together.  So the problems in child welfare that have been totally created by the Republicans in Maine are going national.

So who should you vote for?

You should educate yourself on where each candidate stands on issues that are important to you.  If CPS is a concern of yours, find out where the candidate stands on issues like family preservation, or parental rights.  Then you should vote for the person who cares most about those issues. 

After all, not all Republicans are bad.  Nor are all Democrats Hillary Clinton.  Some might even have some good solutions in mind.  But if you're just going to vote Republican just because you still hate Hillary or to piss off the liberals, then you are an idiot, because if they are anything like what they are like in Maine, you could be screwing your own kids out of their parents.

FMI:

• Fewer foster parents on the front lines
• Lawmakers back several LePage bills to fix flaws in child protection system, but not others
• Mills: LePage's Refusal To Release Funds For AG's Office Threatens Child Welfare System

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Maine Celebrates Its Anniversary Of Child Welfare Fraud With Legally Kidnapped

Almost one year ago to the day, Mary Mayhew, the DHHS Commissioner of Maine's child welfare system stepped down.

Mary Mayhew steps down as DHHS commissioner

Updated: 10:35 AM EDT May 24, 2017

AUGUSTA, Maine — Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew is stepping down, according to the LePage administration. Gov. Paul LePage announced on Wednesday that Mayhew was leaving DHHS effective Friday.

Former DHHS commissioner Mary Mayhew announces run for governor Before being appointed commissioner, Mayhew served as the senior health policy advisor for the LePage Administration. Prior to that, Mayhew served for more than a decade as vice president of the Maine Hospital Association. LePage said an acting DHHS commissioner will be named later this week.

But wait, it seems Governor LePage has appointed an interim Director.

Updated: May 26, 2017 5:41 pm

Rick Hamilton

LePage appoints longtime DHHS manager as interim replacement for Mayhew

The following is taken from Maine DHHS:

Commissioner Ricker Hamilton oversees the largest agency in state government, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, which has an annual budget of over $3.4 billion and more than 3,400 employees. He was appointed as acting Commissioner in May of 2017 and nominated for Commissioner in October. 

Prior to this role, Commissioner Hamilton served as Deputy Commissioner of Programs for Maine DHHS for nearly four years. He has more than 40 years of experience in management, program development, strategic planning, and social work in programs that provide services for children and families, substance use disorder, mental health, sexual assault and domestic violence, aging and disability and acute psychiatric care. 

He is an instructor at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, serves on the American Bar Association's Commission on Law and Aging, acts as an advisor and trainer for the FBI; Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women; National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life; National Institute on the Prosecution of Elder Abuse; and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He received the 2016 Children's Advocate Award from the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault. 

Commissioner Hamilton holds a B.A. degree from St. Anselm College, an M.S.W. degree from Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, and received certification by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy as a Reserve Law Enforcement Officer.

Considering the fact that Rick Hamilton is a licensed attorney, it seems he is not very good when it comes to administering DHHS.

I should file on his license for incompetence.

In honor of her resignation, Maine DHHS administration celebrates its time honored tradition of child welfare fraud by generating a fraudulent letter to Legally Kidnapped by identifying Mayhew as the principal agent, even though she is no longer there.

I believe there are some serious legal issues here which need to be immediately addressed by the DHHS administration of Maine.

Congratulations, Maine on another year of child welfare fraud.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Maine Child Welfare System Still Clueless After All These Years

Please, Maine, stop trafficking tiny humans, please.

I do not know how many times I must castigate the child welfare system of Maine, but all is well, as it is a secret delight to ridicule traffickers of tiny humans.

DHHS reviews child abuse cases it contracted out

In the spirit of fuchsia...

AUGUSTA (BDN) — Maine’s child welfare program is revisiting six-and-a-half months of child abuse reports it received and referred to contractors who intervene in “lower-risk” abuse and neglect cases.

Those "referred contractors" are third party, privatized, NGOs who are beholden to no one, because they are contracted.

The Office of Child and Family Services earlier this month asked the four contractors who handle those lower-risk cases to comb through their records dating back to last Aug. 31 and re-report to the state many of the families whose cases they were assigned. The state would then review those cases.

All they do is file cost reimbursements for crappy programs that a group of sanctimonious, childless fanatics came up with to maximize revenue.

Maine Children's Trust Fund Is A $23 Million Money Laundering Operation

The request indicates that the state’s alternative response programs, which the four contractors run in their respective regions, are one area of focus for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services following the deaths of 10-year-old Marissa Kennedy and four-year-old Kendall Chick, allegedly at the hands of their caregivers. The department has said little about those individual cases, so it’s not yet known whether the department had assigned either family to an alternative response program.

The leadership of Maine Department of Health and Human Services is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, which is why she took the job.

Why Maine Is So Secretive In Privatization: It Stripped Civil Rights Out Of Child Welfare

In a March 12 memo, the state asked its four alternative response contractors to identify the families assigned to them since Aug. 31 with whom their social workers never made contact, who refused services from the social workers, or who stopped working with the social workers before their abuse and neglect cases were closed. The department set a March 23 deadline for the contractors to report those families to state intake workers by phone or email.

The state is not going to do anything, even if they miss the deadline, or even when the reports come in showing a cover up of complete ineptitude in ethics or human compassion.

Maine To Fast Track Trafficking Tiny Human Asset Forfeiture Policies

Those contractors, all nonprofit organizations, are normally required to supply that information through the department’s child welfare information system, called MACWIS. DHHS asked them to continue making the reports through calls or emails to intake workers who staff the state’s child abuse reporting hotline going forward.

Maine Termination of Parental Rights Policy

“It appears that OCFS is playing catch up on cases that were referred to Alternative Response,” Pamela Day, a former director of child welfare services and standards at the Child Welfare League of America, wrote in an email after reviewing the March 12 memo. “They may also be trying to ascertain what they missed with cases that go back to last August 31.”

Emily Spencer, a DHHS spokeswoman, said the department’s request to the alternative response contractors is part of an internal review of Child Protective Services ordered by Gov. Paul LePage following Marissa Kennedy’s and Kendall Chick’s deaths.

Maine Bill: Citizen Medicaid Fraud Busters Could Reap Cash Award

“It is important that in our review, we are taking a holistic look at areas possibly in need of improvement,” Spencer wrote in an email. “We want to ensure that we are leaving no stone unturned when evaluating how our system can best serve the children who depend on us.”

Pingree meets with LePage to discuss DHHS budget waivers

The alternative response programs work with families where children appear to be at low or moderate risk of being abused or neglected. They receive their assignments from Child Protective Services intake workers, who receive all initial reports of suspected child abuse and neglect, and sometimes from the division’s investigators after they’ve looked into abuse and neglect claims and determined they’re of low to moderate severity.

DHHS commissioner needs time to figure out why department is over budget

The state assigns its own Child Protective Services investigators to respond to cases it determines to be more serious. Unlike state child protective workers, alternative response workers can’t file petitions in court to remove children from unsafe houses. Whether parents engage with alternative response workers is voluntary.

Maine Busted In University Child Welfare Training Fraud Scheme

In most cases, alternative response workers work with families for about four months, said David McCluskey, executive director of Community Care, which contracts with the state to run the alternative response program in Aroostook, Hancock, Kennebec, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Washington and York counties.

Maine Will Not Eat Its Medicaid Meat

Shawn Yardley, president and CEO of Community Concepts in Lewiston, said DHHS staff members should already have access to the information they’re requesting from the alternative response contractors since the contractors have to send that information to DHHS under the terms of their contracts.

Maine's Admission Of Guilt

“That wouldn’t be something we’d be sitting on,” said Yardley, whose organization provides alternative response services in Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties. “It would be something that should be viewable by the department as part of their normal course of work.”

Maine's Medicaid Publishing of Errors

The alternative response providers’ contracts also specify that they should report families back to DHHS when social workers find the cases are more severe than initially thought.

Maine Children's Services Administrators Need To Be Pubically Flogged

The organization KidsPeace is the alternative response contractor in Cumberland County. Rockland-based Home Counselors Inc. provides the service in Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo counties.

Tom Farkas, a spokesman for the Maine State Employees Association, the largest union for state workers, called the number of cases affected by the March 12 request “huge” and said the move will “dramatically increase workloads” for workers in Child Protective Services.

Maine Funds Foster Care Fraud Factories

The number of cases DHHS has assigned to alternative response — rather than assigned to a state caseworker — has been on the rise in recent years, DHHS statistics show. Alternative response was also a popular option during Gov. John Baldacci’s administration, the statistics show.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Does anybody want a new kid for Christmas??? DHHS has some!!!

From our friends over at The Maine Parents Blog

Unfortunately, they forgot to mention the tax incentives.

Does anybody want a new kid for Christmas??? DHHS has some!!!

Yes folks!  It's that time of year again.  The Season of Giving.  The time when you will all sit around your Christmas Trees opening presents with your families, unless your life sucks like the kids displayed on the following link here and their real parents of course.

Are you looking to add to your family?  Consider looking local.  Presently, there are 18 kids in Central Maine looking to be adopted.  Every child deserves to have a home with parents who love them and help them grow into caring productive adults.  So, if you have the extra space in your home and heart…consider adoption!   

More >> Maine Kids Looking For Forever Homes This Christmas

What the state doesn't tell you is that these kids, more likely than not, already have families who love and want them.  DHHS took them away from their parents, probably cut them off from their grandparents, aunts and uncles.  They bounced them through foster care, drugged them through the teeth to keep them quiet, then took them out for a good time so they would be all happy and bubbly for the camera.  Then they post their pictures and biography's similar to a desperate old horn dogs dating profile and talk about it like it's a good thing.

But anyway, DHHS is having their end of the year push for adoption apparently.  So if you want a new kid for Christmas, call them.

http://www.maineparents.org/2016/12/does-anybody-want-new-kid-for-christmas.html?platform=hootsuit

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Why Maine Is So Secretive In Privatization: It Stripped Civil Rights Out Of Child Welfare

This is a very insightful opinion piece on privatization in the great State of Maine.

Maine Governor Paul LePage advocating child labor policies
through privatization

In dealing with child welfare services, one must understand that Michigan launched the privatization model,

Contained within this privatization model of child welfare services are series of layers, which are densely compressed through what is called, "the best interest of the child".

In short, the best interest of the child, means that everything is a secret.

No FOIA.

No audits.

No bid contracts which sets its own pricing.

Oh, and never forget, no one cares about the fraud, rapes, suicides and perpetual life on the streets for those who age out of child welfare.

And not one person will ever be held accountable.

Gotta love privatization.

So, if Maine's Governor Paul LePage is not reaping the financial benefits of saving poor abused and neglected children, why does he allow the perpetuation of privatization policies which have proven not to work?

Simple.  Re-election of Governor Paul LePage.

The Maine Heritage Policy Center is quite bold in its public declaration to dismantle civil rights, and what better place than to start with child welfare polices while funding re-election campaigns!

Selling chattel is the oldest form of survival and the best way to "maximize revenues" from the Social Security Trust Fund is to remove civil rights from society.

No one to whom to grieve.  No one to care, but campaigns to be funded.

Privatization has no civil rights, and that is why Maine can be as secretive as it desires.

If privatization is so great, why won’t the LePage administration share information?

Gov. Paul LePage’s administration has given little explanation as to why it has changed longstanding contracts and outsourced government services. The administration has touted and ramped up competitive procurement but has not made it easy for the public to see which private organizations won state contracts and why.

The administration’s decisions affect state services that thousands of Maine residents rely on and have altered the way millions of taxpayer dollars are spent. If LePage is confident that his contract awards are improving the state of Maine, he has no reason to shield them.

There is an easy fix to solving the lack of transparency surrounding Maine’s service contracts. The administration just needs to follow the law.

Last year, the Maine Legislature supported a bill requiring the state to publish online cost-savings information associated with competitive contracts. LePage tried to veto the bill but missed the deadline to do so.

More than a year later, the LePage’s administration is apparently still in the process of creating the rules needed to implement the new law but is not saying when that work will be completed.

Whether it’s refusing to talk to media, limiting the amount of information his administration releases to legislators or equating FOAA requests to a form of “ internal terrorism,” LePage has routinely dismissed the public’s right-to-know since taking office in 2011.

“If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, as [Thomas] Jefferson cautioned, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed,” Ronald Reagan’s said in a statement to mark National Library Week in 1981.

We agree with Reagan and Jefferson. An informed public is essential to the very essence of a democracy. To be truly informed, citizens must have the ability to gain insight into the decisions made by public officials. When it comes to understanding why large state contracts in Maine were awarded to one entity over another, the public is left in the dark.

If the administration today were as transparent as LePage promised the state would be when he ran for office in 2010, the public would already have online access to all contract decisions. The public would be able to see how the administration is spending its tax dollars.

Without public oversight of contract awards, there’s a higher risk of government officials awarding contracts for personal gain. Such actions are responsible for billions in lost public U.S. dollars each year.

There is no evidence LePage or anyone from his administration has engaged in such unethical practices, but the public has a constitutional right to make sure. But, in 2013, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington ranked LePage as the second worst governor in the nation in terms of transparency, cronyism, pressuring public officials and mismanagement. The lack of transparency and accountability has only worsened since then.

Making contract information available online is an incredibly easy fix that requires minimal additional resources.

The University of Maine System publishes the names of successful bidders online. The Maine Department of Transportation also publishes that information. Numerous other states, including several under Republican leadership, publish it as well. There is no reason why the LePage’s administration cannot follow suit.

If the governor’s cost-saving initiatives are as effective as he claims, it’s time for him to prove it.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Main Pain of Maine in Child Welare

Maine Governor Paul LePage

Once upon a time, like right about now, there was this political idiot who was elected as Governor of Maine by the name of Paul LePage.

He did not take the federal Medicaid Expansion because...well...let's just say he does not like obamacare...and Obama.

But his state has an ongoing major problem in dealing with its horrific child welfare system, and impoverished families.

So, the feds say to LePage, "Hey buddy, we have the great internationally proven model to help new families in your state.  Here are a few dollars to set it up."

LePage, with his corporate crony cover-up go-to gal, Mary Mayhew, said, "Wow.  We will take the money gladly to set up this great program to help new families.  Why not?  We have no money or programs to do it ourselves."

Merrily skipping down the path of administrative program structuring, Paul and Mary, hand in hand, happily set up the wonderful program of Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program.

The press was in awe.  The community groups and child welfare agencies were blissfully excited.

Two months go by.  The program is ready to go but Paul and Mary forgot about one thing:  The services are 100% cost reimbursements of Medicaid and they did not take the Medicaid Expansion.

Now Maine has the main pain of finding funding for their happy go-lucky program to help new families.

The feds sit back and laugh.

The new families sit back and suffer.

Paul and Mary sit back and look at each other in disbelief.  #mepolitics

To be continued...

Pissing through the money...

> Do you remember back a month and a half ago (Middle of Febuary 2015) when DHHS was bragging about that $1 Million Dollar grant that they got from the Federal Government for the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program?

• $1M grant to benefit Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood program

They already spent it.

• Critical program that protects Maine children, families in jeopardy

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

From National Model to Crisis In 4 Short Years: Maine's Child Welfare System Want's You!!!

From National Model to Crisis In 4 Short Years: Maine's Child Welfare System Want's You!!!

In just a couple days, we begin what is known as National Child Abuse Prevention Month, and Maine should be celebrating their successes at keeping kids safe and preserving families like they were back in January of 2011...

Logan died Jan. 31, 2001 — 10 years ago Monday — after her foster mother, Sally Schofield, confined her to a highchair in the basement of her Chelsea home and wrapped layers of duct tape around her head, mouth and chest. Logan suffocated, and Schofield is serving a 17-year sentence after her conviction for manslaughter. 

In the years since, the number of children in foster care in Maine has been cut in half. Those who are in the foster care system are three times more likely to be placed with family members than with strangers. Caseworkers now visit foster children at least once a month, rather than the three-month standard back then. 

10 years after Logan’s death, Maine foster care is US model

But instead, Maine will be celebrating by pushing a foster parent recruitment campaign...

The number of foster children in Maine has outgrown the number of available foster homes, and the state needs 100 families to sign up to care for older children, the commissioner of Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said Monday. 

Facing shortage, Maine DHHS calls on families to take in foster kids

As well as looking for more homes for the "Parent-less" children of Maine.

 Here are the sobering statistics: There are 1,990 children in foster care. Of those, 502 are seeking adoption. If you think about it, 500 kids out there wondering if they’ll ever have a family of their own is about as sad as it gets. 

DHHS: More than 500 parent-less Maine kids looking for ‘forever homes’

Now how do we go from a National Model Child Welfare system to a Crisis Level Shortage?  It's simple.  You get a governor who claims to hate child abuse so much that he thinks...

The department has been criticized in the past for being too quick to remove a child, LePage said, but now, “sometimes we’re putting them back too quickly and sometimes we’re not taking them out fast enough.”  

DHHS won’t release information on dead baby

And then you take more kids, blame it all on drug abuse, and ask the legislature for an additional $4.2 million dollars to cover the cost.

Legislators and others say factors such as poor planning and cuts in other social services likely contributed to the crisis, adding as many as 500 unanticipated children to the foster care system and leaving child welfare officials $4.2 million short in the fiscal year ending June 30. A supplemental budget put a Band-Aid on the problem in February.

Poor planning adds to Maine’s foster care crisis

And there you have it.  How Maine went from a National Model child welfare system to having a crisis level and desperate need for more foster and adoptive homes in just four short years and they need you to bail them out.

DHHS in need of families to take in foster kids - And Foster Parents Warn Against It!

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

DHHS commissioner needs time to figure out why department is over budget

Ok, times up.

By Eric Russell, BDN Staff

Posted Oct. 24, 2011, at 4:57 p.m.

             

Pat Wellenbach | AP

Mary Mayhew, Commissioner of Health and Human Services, outlines further tax cuts as she updates lawmakers on state revenues in advance of a report on progress finding $25 million in budget cuts to balance the state budget at a hearing in Augusta on Monday, Oct. 24, 2011.

AUGUSTA, Maine — Changes likely are coming to Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services to address an expected budget shortfall, but the scope of those changes has lawmakers guessing.

DHHS Commissioner Mary Mayhew briefed members of the Legislature’s Appropriations Committee on Monday about her department’s expenses and revenues for the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.

From July 1 to Sept. 30, DHHS expenses were supposed to equal about a quarter of the budget. Instead, expenses were closer to 30 percent, a trend that would be unsustainable over the entire fiscal year.

Mayhew was not prepared Monday to offer lawmakers an analysis of why expenses were higher than anticipated or what changes would be needed. When asked she did confirm that her department would present a supplemental budget to the Legislature in January.

“My commitment is to provide [lawmakers] a more comprehensive analysis that gives them a better sense of the potential shortfall and also bring forward any potential changes that we’ll have,” she said in an interview later Monday.

Members of the Appropriations Committee await more information from the commissioner, some with more trepidation than others.

“What I heard [Monday] is: There is going to be a supplemental budget. That tells me there is an issue,” said Rep. Kenneth Fredette, R-Newport. “We don’t know the size of the problem, but I’m guessing it’s going to be somewhere between $50 million and $100 million.”

Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, however, said Mayhew did not convince him on Monday that the DHHS budget problem necessitates drastic changes.

“They didn’t have to move any money in order to make payroll and meet expenses,” he said. “To me it looks like we may well be within budget at this point going forward.”

Rep. Peggy Rotundo, D-Lewiston, said although DHHS’ expenses and revenues are not equal at the moment, she was cautious about blowing the numbers out of proportion.

“What I heard is: They aren’t clear in terms of what’s happening,” she said. “Months ago, they were saying that an increased number of those receiving services was driving up costs. We looked at figures and realized that wasn’t the case.”

Gov. Paul LePage has said that he believes Maine’s DHHS costs are too high and wants to make sure high administrative costs aren’t getting in the way of delivering services.

The governor pointed to a 2009 study done by the Legislature’s Office of Program Evaluation and Governmental Accountability that showed one narrow area of contracted services — children’s outpatient mental health services — spent 27 cents of every dollar on administrative costs.

“Only 73 cents of every dollar gets to provide a service,” the governor said in August. “I believe it should be 88 or 89 cents.”

The governor even has threatened to eliminate programs altogether.

“We need to look at DHHS more as a safety net and less as a way of life,” he said this summer. “Some programs may just have to go away.”

Rotundo said she’s not opposed to a supplemental DHHS budget, something she called fairly routine, but she worried about cuts to programs that people need.

Fredette countered that economic realities are forcing lawmakers to “right-size” government.

“We need to look at revenues and build government around the concept of matching that,” he said. “Tax increases are not on the table, so we need to look at where we can make adjustments.”

If changes are proposed, the DHHS budget almost certainly will address MaineCare, which has seen a steep increase in the number of claims filed as the economy continues to languish.

But MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, is funded largely with federal dollars. The state pays about a third of the cost. That means Maine is limited in its ability to change the program dramatically.

The deadline for DHHS to submit a supplemental budget proposal is the end of the month, but Mayhew said her department would need more time. Any substantial changes in her department would require legislative approval.

Martin said if the governor wants to proceed with some of his proposals, including an estimated$93 million plan to eliminate income taxes on retiree pensions, he doesn’t see how DHHS would be spared.

Rotundo added that she hopes the recent budget concerns at DHHS don’t turn into an excuse for the department to make cuts, particularly if the LePage administration wants in turn to pay for other things.

For this budget, DHHS has been working off baseline budget projections that were inherited from the Baldacci administration and Mayhew said were too low.

“Year after year we keep adding things on without really understanding the impact,” she said. “We need to be asking whether our budget reflects true experiences.”