Maine
The list of Maine parents waiting for a lawyer grew by 700 percent in 2024
Like many of her colleagues, family law attorney Taylor Kilgore has been watching the list of child protection cases in need of lawyers grow over the past year.
When the state removes children from their parents’ care because of concerns about abuse or neglect, those parents are guaranteed an attorney under Maine law.
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 December 30, that number stood at 112.
The list is sent to the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, which distributes it to attorneys on its roster. The list is used to help find attorneys for parents who can’t afford them, but it also serves as a way for the state to understand the size of the problem.
In late October, Kilgore came up with an idea to help get cases off the list. Her plan was to ask the state to let her look at the confidential cases and then pitch them to other attorneys, who she thought would be more likely to accept cases if they had a sense of the circumstances and amount of work that would be involved. Child protection case records are typically kept confidential to protect the identity of the involved children and parents.
She pitched the idea to Jim Billings, executive director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, the independent commission tasked with paying and managing the roster of attorneys representing clients who can’t afford a private attorney. Billings brought the idea to the judicial branch, which agreed to let Kilgore have access to the unstaffed cases in Lewiston.
But after getting a look behind the curtain at the Lewiston courthouse, Kilgore has concerns about whether the list is properly accounting for the problem.
“I don’t think the list is actually accurate,” Kilgore said.
Maine’s system for removing children from parents consists of several government entities: the Department of Health and Human Services, which investigates child abuse and neglect; the Attorney General’s Office, which represents the department in court; and the judicial branch, which oversees the proceedings and ultimately rules on cases.
Together, these three bodies oversee a growing number of children and parents whose cases are hidden from public view.
The system removes around 1,000 children a year, and is one that federal auditors found failed to follow its own rules. It also seems increasingly unable to provide parents with the legal representation guaranteed to them by law, a problem highlighted in a child welfare watchdog report published last week.
“The shortage of defense attorneys for parents has caused weeks and months-long delays in the progress of reunification cases, harming children, parents, and increasing staff workload,” Maine’s child welfare ombudsman Christine Alberi wrote in her annual report to lawmakers.
The report follows a December letter of no confidence in the head of DHHS’s Office of Child and Family Services, which investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect. The letter was signed by 150 caseworkers.
Kilgore’s experience raises questions about whether the system is capable of accurately tallying all the families and children it is failing.
‘The list is not perfect’
In late November and early December, Kilgore spent two weeks reviewing cases in the Lewiston court and calling attorneys to try to get them to take cases off the list.
She found four cases that had been staffed for at least three weeks, but had not been removed from the list. More concerning were cases she found that needed attorneys but didn’t appear on the list.
Kilgore had an associate go to the courthouse and take notes on the cases on the docket call, writing down the docket number any time a case lacked counsel. From that, she was able to identify three cases in need of attorneys that were not on the list. Additionally, a criminal defense attorney who heard about Kilgore’s work contacted her about a client. The attorney asked if she knew the status of the client’s child protection case. But when Kilgore looked, she found the case was not on the list.
“I had to write back and say ‘they’re not identified anywhere in this list as needing counsel,’” Kilgore said.
The judiciary distributes a similar list for criminal cases without an attorney, and MCPDS executive director Jim Billings said Kilgore’s experience mirrors accounts he’s heard from attorneys on the criminal side.
There are cases that are on the list that should probably come off because they have already been staffed, Billings said. Conversely, Billings has heard from criminal defense attorneys that there are unrepresented criminal defendants who should be on the list, but are not.
“The list is not perfect,” Billings said. “But right now it’s the best tool we have to try and track the cases and triage as best we can.”
Judicial branch spokesperson Barbara Cardone did not respond to multiple emails with questions about how the list is compiled, maintained and updated.
Kilgore’s project fits into the commission’s effort to ensure poor Mainers get the representation guaranteed to them under state and federal law. The list of criminal cases grew throughout 2024. At the end of December, there were nearly 1,000 unstaffed cases, including more than 140 cases that involved defendants in jail.
To combat this problem, MCPDS is in the process of opening and staffing public defender offices across Maine. The commission has also hired Machias-based attorney Molly Owens as chief of the new system’s parents’ counsel division. Owens is tasked with building a team of public defenders devoted to representing indigent parents in child protection cases. She is in the process of hiring three attorneys to join the nascent team.
Three years from now, MCPDS wants the parents’ counsel defender team to have between 20 to 25 attorneys, allowing them to represent one parent in about half the state’s cases.
Owens praised Kilgore’s efforts to understand and staff child protection cases in Lewiston and said she would like to see those efforts replicated.
“Do I think there are cases that are not on the list? If Taylor is finding them, then yes,” she said.
“I don’t know how I would know how common that is until we do what Taylor is doing.”
Parents who wish to maintain custody of their children are fighting against a system that a recent federal audit found failed to follow its own rules when investigating allegations of child abuse or neglect.
A capable attorney can help identify those missteps, put pressure on the department and use those errors to argue on behalf of parents in court. Attorneys can also connect clients to services that can help move them toward reunification with their children.
But a lack of attorneys makes that kind of zealous representation less likely, which in turn results in more families separated and more cost to the state.
Cases are confidential, so it’s unclear how often judges disagree with the state or rule in favor of parents. The Monitor asked the judicial branch for insight into this issue but was told the judiciary could not provide data on when the courts rule against the department.
The Monitor also submitted a public records request in October to both DHHS and the Attorney General’s Office, which represents the department in court, seeking data on how often the state loses in court. Neither agency has provided records or an estimate of when they will be able to fulfill the request.
One recent decision from the Maine Supreme Court shows how even repeated failures by the department can have little impact on the outcomes of cases.
On October 3, the high court published a memorandum decision in an appeal of a termination of parental rights out of Portland. The memo notes that the lower court was right to terminate the parental rights of the mother despite the fact that the judge in the case ordered the department to file a rehabilitation and reunification plan “seven times during the pendency of the case and never did so.”
Maine’s child removal rate has made it an outlier in the United States. Only Maine and Nebraska took more children into state custody in 2022 than in 2018, according to the most recent federal data.
More children entering state custody increases demand for attorneys at the same time as the supply is falling. The number of attorneys rostered with MCPDS representing a parent in at least one case fell by more than half, from 230 to 110, between 2018 and 2024.
‘We can’t do it alone’
The December 30 edition of the parents’ counsel list contained 112 cases. This translates to an even greater number of attorneys, since each parent in a case is entitled to an attorney, and representing more than one parent in a case would present a conflict of interest. Some cases involve multiple children, sometimes with multiple partners, and thus could require three or more attorneys.
Of those cases, 79 were added to the list more than a month prior. Twenty-seven were added to the list before October, meaning that parents in those cases could have been waiting for representation for three months or longer while their children were in state custody.
Seven of the cases were added before July 2024. On the December 16 list, there was a case dating from April 2023 — over a year and a half earlier. By the end of the year, after The Monitor asked Judiciary spokesperson Barbara Cardone about the case and received no response, it had been removed. Given the concerns raised about the accuracy of the list, it’s unclear whether the case had finally been staffed in late December, or if it had been staffed earlier but had not been removed from the tally.
An additional five cases had no dates at all.
Kilgore started her project in late November. She reviewed 43 docket numbers in Lewiston and was able to find representation for 21 of the 56 parents involved in those 43 cases.
One of the cases involved a parent who had been on the list since February. By Kilgore’s count, the parent had been without an attorney for 281 days. Confidentiality rules prevented Kilgore from disclosing details of the case, but she noted that it had procedural issues that desperately required an attorney.
“The case was kind of on fire,” she said. “In my opinion, the parent’s rights were being violated.”
Kilgore was able to find an attorney to take the case, and said that overall she thinks the experiment was successful. Billings agreed.
“I think it shows that if there are devoted resources, even in a market that we think is saturated, we can still make some progress on the list if the effort is put in,” Billings said.
Next month, Kilgore is going to bring the experiment to the Portland courthouse.
But the problem is larger than finding attorneys, said Owens, the parents’ counsel chief. DHHS and the courts need to be held accountable and find ways to keep families together while keeping kids safe, she said.
“A lot of departments and agencies got us here,” Owens said. “We want to be part of the solution, but we can’t do it alone.”
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit civic news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.
CLIFTON, Maine (WABI) – Maine Maple Sunday is less than two weeks away, and the Williams Family Farm in Clifton is gearing up for one of the sweetest seasons yet.
A long stretch of frost and snow meant a late start this year, but the first boil of sap has finally run through the evaporator, and maple season is officially underway.
At Williams Family Farm, everything is done by hand:
- Fresh maple syrup, bottled on-site
- Maple sugar, carefully extracted in small batches
- Baked candied pecans, cashews, and more
The Williams family has spent years working with whatever weather sends their way.
Long winters, surprise warmups, and everything in between—they’ve learned how to adapt so community members can enjoy their products.
As co-owner John Williams explains, the key is in the temperature.
“You need to have it warm during the day and still freezing at night, so typically that’s the middle of February,” said Williams. “We have a lot of trees, so we have to start tapping them before the conditions are ideal, so we start tapping way before it’s time for it to run just so we can get them all tapped. If you have ten trees in your backyard, you want to wait until roughly now, the middle of February to now, and when it’s actually running and put them in then because you can put all your taps in, in one day.”
They’re excited to welcome the community during Maine Maple Weekend on March 21 and 22.
They will be boiling up sap, hosting demonstrations, and providing free samples.
Locals can also join them for their third annual pancake breakfast where all proceeds are donated to Holbrook Recreation.
Follow the link to find out their hours for March and more.
Copyright 2026 WABI. All rights reserved.
The ad begins with a woman standing in a department store who sort of looks like Gov. Janet Mills, but not quite.
“Introducing the Janet Mills collection, featuring a confusing choice that forces girls to compete against biological males,” the female narrator says over banal instrumental music as the video cuts to “Mills” holding a stopwatch by an outdoor track.
The Mills collection comes “with a no-parent-permission-required estrogen kit,” the narrator continues, as the imposter holds a kit of syringes while patting a boy’s hair, which seems suspiciously stiff. The commercial ends with a real picture of the governor.
As far as ads generated by artificial intelligence go, the one from the National Republican Senatorial Committee is not very convincing. But the commercial serves as a reminder about how the emerging technology is being integrated into political campaigns and other areas of life in Maine.
If state Democratic leaders get their way, AI-generated ads like this won’t be allowed in Maine without a disclaimer.
As AI technology rapidly improves, state policymakers are weighing a variety of measures that could affect how Mainers interact with it. They are taking a two-pronged approach to protect people, especially children, from potential harms — while also preparing for the possible benefits.
The technology comes in the form of virtual personal assistants, internet search results and targeted advertising by businesses. It’s being used by governments for things ranging from traffic signals to budgets and policymaking to facial recognition to surveillance.
Mills said in a written statement that AI could help improve lives, drive economic growth and solve complex problems, but that it must be used in a “prudent, responsible, and ethical manner.”
“As AI becomes more prevalent in our society, its considerable promise must be balanced against harms — known and unforeseen — that can emerge from its widespread use,” she said. “It’s clear we’re only at the beginning of AI’s evolution.”
The governor has proposed $6.7 million in her supplemental budget to begin implementing some of the recommendations of a 21-member task force she created last year to study the issue.
Her proposal, which is being reviewed by lawmakers, would create a statewide AI literacy campaign; fund local and state partnerships to help municipalities use the technology and offer grants to support job training programs to keep Maine’s workforce competitive and productive in AI-enabled workplaces, among other things.
Lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering bills to address potential harms. In a rare bipartisan move, Republicans and Democrats voted unanimously last month in support of a bill (LD 524) making AI-generated child sex abuse material illegal. But that bill must receive about $55,000 before it can be sent to the governor.
They are also considering bills:
- To require political ads in state and local elections to include a disclosure when AI-generated or altered material is used (LD 517).
- To stop human-like chatbots or social AI companions from interacting with children (LD 2162).
- And to regulate how the technology is used in mental health settings (LD 2082).
Last year, lawmakers passed a measure including AI-generated images in the state’s ban on so-called “revenge porn,” and one requiring companies to inform consumers when they’re interacting with an AI assistant. Mills signed both into law.
Other proposals regulating AI use in medical and dental insurance claims and in setting rents died in committees. So did one prohibiting the use of AI in “dynamic pricing,” in which businesses use the technology to offer different real-time prices to different consumers.
Over 1,000 measures focusing on artificial intelligence were debated in state capitols last year, the National Conference of State Legislatures said.
Some states, such as Colorado and California, are taking steps to enact a broad regulatory framework for AI. California has provisions preventing discrimination in the workplace and requiring watermarks on AI content and transparency around data used to produce reports.
But Maine lawmakers are seeking to address potential harms on a case-by-case basis — at least for now.
“I think of it as almost a whack-a-mole type of approach where we are developing legislation that very narrowly addresses specific harms of AI,” said Rep. Amy Kuhn, D-Falmouth, who is taking the lead for House Democrats.
“That sort of overarching regulatory framework just feels a little premature for Maine to me right now. I want to see that work its way through the states and let some other states take a swing before we get in there.”
Republicans, however, are worried about overregulation.
Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, said her caucus is focused on protecting children from potential harms associated with AI, but she worries that regulation will never keep up with AI’s evolution.
“You can’t always legislate your way out of everything,” Poirier said. “If you have a minor that has access to AI, and it can be used to harm them in any way, it’s our responsibility as adults to keep them safe. … But we are adults, and we need to use our own common sense.”
A recent poll from Pan Atlantic Research showed widespread concern about AI, with 66% of the 810 Mainers surveyed saying they’re mostly concerned about the potential problems of AI, while 25% were mostly optimistic.
More advanced programs can generate text, analyze reports and create increasingly lifelike images and videos. A recent AI video purporting to show Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt throwing down over the death of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein raised alarm bells in Hollywood over its realism.
Other programs have been used by businesses in ways critics say can be exploitative. Consumer Reports recently published a story about how the online grocery shopping service Instacart used AI to charge certain customers higher prices — up to 23% more — if they were flagged as having higher incomes. Instacart reportedly stopped offering stores this option for “surveillance pricing” after the story was published in December.
A lobbying effort is underway to promote AI regulation in Maine. The “Protect What’s Human” campaign launched a website earlier this year, and a spokesperson said they have invested about $210,000 in ads supporting AI regulations. The commercials are targeting Republicans voters in the Bangor and Portland regions. The group is planning to spend another $110,000 on TV, streaming services, social media and podcasts.
Other proposals passed by the Legislature reflect lawmakers’ attempts to get ahead of the AI issue in indirect ways.
The House and Senate have each recently passed a strict data privacy law that would greatly restrict the amount of data — a person’s location, browsing and shopping histories and biometric information, for example— that companies can collect, store and sell. One of the main arguments was that such data can be used to train AI models. However, the chambers will have to iron out the differences between their two versions of the measure, LD 1822, if it is to become law.
And local residents are beginning to grapple with proposed data centers, which have been controversial in other parts of the county because they consume large amounts of water. This is especially true for centers powering AI.
Lawmakers are considering a bill, LD 307, to create a moratorium on such centers and establish a state council to study and review the impact of building them in Maine.
Construction is underway on a data center in Aroostook County, while another is being proposed in Sanford. Others have been proposed in Wiscasset and Lewiston, but did not move forward.
“This whole world is shifting to computer everything,” Poirier said, “and it’s important that we keep up with the times on that.”
Lawmakers are considering two bills that attempt to increase access to dental care in Maine by studying ways to establish specialist residency programs in the state and creating a new license tier with lower educational requirements, a measure that multiple dentists opposed.
LD 2206 would establish an associate dentist license, which would allow a dentist without the equivalent of a U.S. doctoral degree in dentistry — such as a dentist with a bachelor’s degree who trained outside of the U.S. — to practice dentistry under supervision of a licensed dentist.
Under this new license, associate dentists would have a pathway to full licensure if they were in good standing for six consecutive years. There is currently a pathway for foreign-trained dentists to work in Maine, but it requires additional education.
The bill comes as access to Maine dentists has declined. The ranks of dentists decreased from 590 in 2019 to 530 in 2023. Most children in Maine don’t get an annual checkup and cleaning from a dentist, according to a study last year from the University of Southern Maine Muskie School of Public Service and Catherine E. Cutler Institute.
Penobscot Community Health Care, Maine’s largest federally qualified health center, brought the issue to lawmakers after two “very highly qualified” dentists the center hoped to hire were denied licensure by the Maine Board of Dental Practice because they didn’t meet current educational equivalency requirements.
The health center estimated those dentists could have provided 8,000 appointments with patients, according to testimony from Lori Dwyer, president and CEO of Penobscot Community Health Care.
Penobscot Community Health Care, which said it operates the largest dental center in Maine and has a network of 51 workspaces for dental care, emphasized that federally qualified health centers are subject to strict federal oversight, reporting requirements and high standards.
“[Penobscot Community Health Care] would never support a pathway that compromises safety, and they would never hire a clinician that would provide unsafe treatment to patients,” Dwyer wrote in testimony that was read on her behalf to the Legislature’s Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services committee.
Northern Light Health also submitted testimony in support, saying the bill would help address workforce shortages and reduce emergency room visits for dental conditions.
“Like most hospitals in Maine, Northern Light Health members are challenged with inappropriate utilization of our emergency rooms by individuals seeking care for dental/tooth pain,” Lisa Harvey-McPherson, vice president of government relations, wrote in her testimony. “Patients generally present with cracked teeth, abscesses, dental caries or tooth eruptions, leading to thousands of emergency room claims for dental related diagnosis codes each year.”
Multiple dentists and dentistry representatives testified against the bill, arguing that there are existing pathways for foreign-trained dentists and that lower standards could set up a two-tiered system in which poorer and more rural residents receive care from dentists with less training.
Dr. Kailee Jorgenson, a licensed dentist who is the clinical director at Portland-based Mainely Teeth and president of the Maine Oral Health Centers Alliance, said the patients most likely to receive care under the proposed pathway are MaineCare recipients, rural residents and children. These patients often have the most complex needs, she said.
“Maine should not create one standard of dentistry for those with resources and another for those without,” Jorgenson told the committee.
Jorgenson and others who testified against the measure said they instead support a second bill, LD 2209, which would study how to expand access to dental care.
LD 2209 would direct the Maine Department of Health and Human Services to consider how to establish dental specialist residency programs in Maine, including for pediatric dentists, oral surgeons and orthodontists. The bill would also require the department to study ways to create a hub-and-spoke model to expand access to services across the state.
“We have a shortage of specialists in Maine, and it doesn’t matter how you’re trying to pay,” said Therese Cahill, executive director of the Maine Dental Association, which represents dentists. “To see an oral surgeon, to see a periodontist, to see an orthodontist, or a pediatric dentist, you’re waiting.”
No one spoke against the bill or submitted testimony in opposition.
The committee will consider both bills during upcoming work sessions when it will decide whether to forward them to the full Legislature. The work sessions had not been scheduled as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.
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