The Maine Families program operates in every county in Maine and serves about 2,300 families a year, at a cost of about $9 million a year in state and federal money. It’s a home visiting program that helps new parents adjust, make their homes safer and access resources.
Exactly who gets to do the work of Maine Families, and get paid for it, is, by law, open to competitive bidding. But in a story Thursday in the Bangor Daily News, reporter Erin Rhoda says that’s not happening, and it’s not clear why.
In the piece, Rhoda says the state has quietly classified the procurement of Maine Families services as an “emergency,” which allows it to skip the competitive bidding process. Instead, the Department of Health and Human Services awarded the contract to the Maine Children’s trust, which has in the past been charged with administering some aspects of Maine Families, and with overseeing child abuse programs in the state.
Rhoda says this brings up questions not just about transparency and fairness, but also about conflicts of interest.
