The Justice Department sued the State of Maine today for unnecessarily segregating children with behavioural health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and a state-operated juvenile detention facility in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Supreme Court’s decision in Olmstead v. L.C.
The department previously notified Maine of its findings of civil rights violations in a June 2022 letter to Maine.
The letter identified steps that Maine should take to remedy the violations.
“The State of Maine has an obligation to protect its residents, including children with behavioural health disabilities, and such children should not be confined to facilities away from their families and community resources,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to ensuring that people with disabilities can get the services they need to remain at home with their families and loved ones, in their communities.”
“Families across Maine must be able to access to local community-based services for their children with behavioural health disabilities,” said U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee for the District of Maine. “The alleged violations identified by the Justice Department must be remedied so that these children and their families can obtain services in their own communities, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act.”
The ADA and the Olmstead decision require state and local governments to ensure the services they provide for children with disabilities are available in the most integrated setting appropriate to each child’s needs. These services can include assistance with daily activities, behaviour management and individual or family counselling.
Community-based behavioural health services also include crisis services that can help prevent a child from being institutionalised during a mental health crisis. Absent these services, Maine children with disabilities enter emergency rooms, come into contact with law enforcement and remain in institutions when they could remain with their families if Maine provided them sufficient community-based services.
The lawsuit alleges that Maine administers its system in a way that limits behavioural health services in the community. As a result, Maine children must enter in- and out-of-state facilities or even the state-operated juvenile detention facility, Long Creek Youth Development Center, to receive behavioural health services. Others are at serious risk of entering these facilities as their families struggle to keep them home despite the lack of necessary services.
