Bill > LD1544

This bill amends Maine's child protection laws to improve the court process for child protection cases by introducing several key changes. The bill requires the Department of Health and Human Services to provide a detailed explanation of how they weighed the potential trauma to a child from removal against the immediate risk of harm when seeking a preliminary protection order. Courts must now explicitly consider the trauma of removing a child from their home and whether the department exhausted all options to mitigate harm before removal. At summary preliminary hearings, courts must make specific findings about the risk of harm versus the trauma of removal. The bill also modifies termination of parental rights proceedings by removing previous termination of parental rights for another child as an aggravating factor and requiring courts to explicitly find that the department made reasonable efforts to rehabilitate and reunify the child with their parent. Additionally, the bill requires more detailed documentation of the specific reasonable efforts made to rehabilitate and reunify families, and adjusts the language around the conditions under which parental rights can be terminated, emphasizing the department's obligation to provide meaningful support and rehabilitation services to families.

Justice

https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/display_ps.asp?LD=1544&snum=132