Publications

The 34th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT^® Data Book describes how the country’s lack of affordable and accessible child care negatively affects children, families and U.S. businesses.

Maine ranks 12th in the nation on measures of child well-being following improvements in community and family health, according to a new report. The 2023 Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation cited a slight drop in the number of children living in high-poverty areas in Maine, and fewer kids living in single-parent households. But a lack of affordable and accessible child care continues to affect families statewide. Helen Hemminger, research and Kids Count associate for the Maine Children's Alliance, said even those who can afford child care may not be able to find it.

Mainers have a long tradition of working together to solve tough problems. Right now, we face a significant, but solvable challenge of an inadequate early care and education (ECE) system. In fact, the problem is that it isn’t a “system” at all but a patchwork of programs of variable quality, affordability, and availability throughout the state. This creates inequities in opportunity both for children’s healthy development and the stability of our workforce. What can we do to support the needs of our modern workforce and ensure Maine has a professional and thriving early care and education system? In the following sections, we briefly describe the current challenges facing both families and providers, strategies to help repair our patchwork of programs throughout the state to create a true early childhood system, and what kinds of investments are required to build and sustain that system.

There’s a new plan at the State House designed to protect vulnerable Mainers. It comes from the Department of Health and Human Services just weeks after a study found Maine has the highest rate of abuse and neglect in the country, more than twice the national average. "The vision established in this plan is that Maine will be a place where all families live in supportive communities and can get the help they need when they need it,” Melissa Hackett of the Maine Children’s Alliance said.

The Maine Children’s Alliance recently released the 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book on the well-being of Maine children and families. Feedback from across the state and political spectrum has been clear and consistent, and the data are sobering. Approximately 34,000 Maine children live in poverty. Child maltreatment is high. Maine youth are facing unprecedented mental health issues. Significant disparities persist across indicators when disaggregated by income, race and ethnicity, geography and other factors.

The Maine Children's Alliance released its annual report on child welfare in Maine Tuesday.

You will notice that the 2023 Maine KIDS COUNT Data Book looks different. We hope the new design makes finding and interpreting the data more accessible.

A report on child welfare released by the Maine Children’s Alliance on Tuesday found that the number of Maine children living in poverty decreased in 2021, but remains an issue in rural areas.

Governor Janet Mills has announced new initiatives in an effort to keep kids safe from abuse, neglect, drug overdoses and death.

In the first regular session of the 131st Maine Legislature, MCA is committed to elevating the voices and interests of Maine children and families. Our priorities cross issue areas, involve new legislation, the implementation of recently enacted legislation, and administrative action in key areas of child and family well-being. State investments should prioritize strengthening families with the greatest needs and bolstering the critical services and programs that support them.

The Maine Child Welfare Action Network (MCWAN) is a group of organizations and individuals in Maine working together to align, strengthen, and sustain efforts to ensure the safety and well-being of all Maine children, youth, and families. In January 2022, MCWAN released a Framework for Child Welfare Reform that established core issue areas and challenges, and made priority action recommendations supported by data and research. The 2023 Strategic Child Welfare System Priorities build upon that framework with updated data and context.

The Maine Child Welfare Action Network (MCWAN) has engaged parent experts to establish a new initiative for the network, the Center for Parent Leadership and Advocacy in Child Welfare (CPLA). The goal of the CPLA is to develop a group of parent advocates within MCWAN who have lived experience with child protection and other family serving systems, and the skills to use their experiences to inform policy and affect practice change.