AUGUSTA – On Tuesday, Rep. Julie McCabe, D-Lewiston, introduced a measure before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee that would establish an emergency rate increase and a stabilization fund for children’s residential care facilities in Maine.
LD 2125 would provide $1 million to the sustainability fund in order to help stabilize children’s residential treatment providers that are in danger of closing.
“Over the past two decades, countless behavioral health care providers, and with them hundreds of children’s residential beds, have shuttered due to financial challenges. Because of this, children with complex behavioral and mental health needs have been forced to languish in emergency rooms and seek care out of the state,” said McCabe. “Last summer, I walked through the emergency department floor at Central Maine Medical Center, where kids are forced to spend days, weeks and even months waiting for care. It is nothing short of heartbreaking.”
Currently, there are six providers in Maine, but only two serve children and adolescents with intellectual or developmental disabilities. There are 130 licensed care beds in the state, with 76 children presently on the waitlist for residential care services. For the young Mainers who are able to access this care, only 23% receive treatment in their home county, meaning teenagers from Aroostook County may be treated in Lewiston, which would require parents to make a nearly eight-hour round trip to see their child. Additionally, 67 children are residing in facilities in other states, such as Florida and Missouri.
The Health and Human Services Committee will hold a work session on the bill in the coming weeks.
Rep. McCabe is serving her first term in the Maine House and represents House District 93, which includes part of Lewiston. She serves on the Health and Human Services Committee.
Contact: Brian Lee (McCabe) | 305-965-2744