DOJ Sues Maine Over Alleged ADA Violations for Children With Mental Disorders

The Department of Justice in Washington on July 29, 2024. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The U.S. Department of Justice is suing the state of Maine, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for allegedly unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities, and a juvenile detention center.

The lawsuit, filed on Sept. 9, alleges that Maine’s behavioral health service system is structured in a way that forces hundreds of children into institutional care—sometimes out of state—and separating them from their families.

The DOJ claims Maine failed to provide the children with sufficient community-based behavioral health services, leaving families with no option but institutionalization, according to a DOJ statement.

“The State of Maine has an obligation to protect its residents, including children with behavioral health disabilities, and such children should not be confined to facilities away from their families and community resources,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a press release.

“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.”

The lawsuit stems from an investigation that began following complaints that Maine was not administering behavioral health services in compliance with requirements under the ADA that were reinforced by the Supreme Court’s 1999 decision in Olmstead v. L.C., which mandated public entities provide services in the least restrictive setting possible.

According to the DOJ’s complaint, the state has failed to adequately provide community-based services.

Some children are held in the Long Creek Youth Development Center, a juvenile detention facility that the DOJ called a “de facto psychiatric hospital.”

The DOJ sent a letter in June 2022 to Gov. Janet Mills and Attorney General Aaron Frey of their findings of civil rights violations in June 2022 and identified steps the state should take to remedy the violations.

The letter alleged that families often wait hundreds of days for community-based services, and in the meantime, law enforcement or hospital emergency rooms become the default response to behavioral health crises.

The letter accused Maine of maintaining long waitlists for essential services, including mobile crisis units, therapeutic foster care, and intensive home-based care. The DOJ asserts that the state has not adequately addressed these issues despite recognizing them for years, leading to further segregation and harm to children and families.

The lawsuit calls for Maine to overhaul its behavioral health service system to ensure that children receive appropriate services in their homes and communities, in compliance with the ADA.

A spokesperson for the Maine governor’s office directed The Epoch Times to the state’s Department of Health and Human Services for a response. The department did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.

The Maine attorney general’s office also did not respond to a request from The Epoch Times prior to publication.