Report

MCA’s legislative advocacy, relationships with policymakers, data and communications, and work in coalitions led to unprecedented advances in policies and investments to improve the well-being of Maine children, youth, and families.

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.

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.

MCA’s advocacy, relationships with policymakers, education, and coalition work moved forward many priority policies and investments to improve the well-being of Maine children and families.

The 32nd edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT^® Data Book describes how children across the United States were faring before — and during — the coronavirus pandemic.

Slides from the presentation of the 2021 Maine KIDS COUNT Data Book to the Children's Caucus. The Data Book, produced every other year by the Maine Children's Alliance, is the only comprehensive report of the physical, social, economic, and educational well-being of Maine children. 

Trends in demographic data represent both challenges and opportunities for Maine to achieve the goal of being a thriving place for all to live, work, and play. As the oldest population in the nation, Maine faces the challenges of caring for older adults and meeting its future workforce needs. On the positive side, migration to Maine and shifts in racial representation are contributing to younger communities. By recognizing the trends in our population, we can better plan for the programs, services, and systems – from early childhood education to senior housing - that will ensure greater long-term social and economic prosperity for all of us.

The 31st edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT® Data Book describes how children across the United States were faring before the coronavirus pandemic began.

To understand the changes and identify the drivers of the changes in IMR in Maine over the past two decades, a group of partners representing the non-profit, health care, public health and state sectors designed and implemented the Maine Infant Mortality Project. The goals of this one-year project were to identify the drivers of infant mortality (IM) in the state using quantitative and qualitative data and develop recommendations to reduce IM that reflect the populations, cultures and environment of Maine.

The State of Maine is at an important crossroads in its juvenile justice system, with an exciting window of opportunity. The problems in the system have been well-known for many years, and significant progress has been made in several areas. But over-incarceration continues and years of under-investment in behavioral health and other services has left the state without adequate programs and services to meet the needs of young people.

This report is in response to RESOLVE Chapter 66, L.D. 1635, 129th Maine State Legislature, Resolve, To Improve Access to Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment Services for Children from Birth to 8 Years of Age. This report provides information on the Early, Periodic, Screening, Diagnosis, and Treatment (EPSDT) benefit and programs providing early intervention and developmental screening services in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), including work done under the Office of MaineCare Services (OMS), at the Maine CDC under the Maternal Child Block Grant, Public Health Nursing (PHN), Maine Families Home Visiting, and Women and Infants Program (WIC), and the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS). The report also includes information on Child Find under the Department of Education and the early intervention system, including Child Development Services (CDS), Early Head Start, and Head Start.

This snapshot shares the latest data — for the nation and each state — on children growing up in high-poverty areas. It also singles out two important factors, geographic location and race and ethnicity, that shape a child’s risk of living in concentrated poverty. The document ends by outlining recommended moves that leaders can take to help families in these communities thrive.