United States v. Maine

On September 9, 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed suit against the State of Maine based on its June 2022 findings that Maine discriminated against youth with disabilities by failing to maintain an adequate system of behavioral health services that prevent institutionalization.

After initially receiving a complaint filed by Disability Rights Maine, the U.S. DOJ conducted a lengthy investigation and found:

  • “Maine’s community-based behavioral health system fails to provide sufficient services. As a result, hundreds of children are unnecessarily segregated in institutions each year, while other children are at serious risk of entering institutions.”
  • “Children are unable to access behavioral health services in their homes and communities—services that are part of an existing array of programs that the State advertises to families through its Medicaid program (MaineCare), but does not make available in a meaningful or timely manner.”
  • “Maine children with behavioral health needs are eligible and appropriate for the range of community-based services the State offers, but either remain in segregated settings or are at serious risk of institutionalization.”
  • “Families and children in Maine are overwhelmingly open to receiving services in integrated settings. In fact, parents indicated a strong preference that their children receive services at home due to trauma, neglect, and abuse that their children reportedly endured in residential facilities within and outside of Maine.”

Those findings should not have been a surprise to the State of Maine, which had been on clear notice of the widespread inadequacy of its community-based behavioral health system for children when a comprehensive assessment concluded, in 2018, that children’s behavioral health services were not available when needed, or not available at all. Two years later, a separate independent assessment of the juvenile justice system found that many youth are detained and incarcerated at Long Creek because they could not access appropriate community-based services for their behavioral and mental health needs.

In 2024, the State of Maine and the DOJ reached a settlement. However, in September 2025, less than a year after the settlement was reached, DOJ and the State filed a joint motion with the district court seeking to significantly weaken their agreement. GLAD Law, in coalition with the ACLU of Maine, Disability Rights Maine, and Center for Public Representation successfully opposed changes that would have:

  • Eliminated the role of the independent reviewer – a neutral expert charged with evaluating Maine’s compliance with the settlement agreement
  • Delayed transition planning for youth at Long Creek
  • Significantly reduced efforts to inform families about new behavioral health services
  • Eliminated core training requirements for behavioral health providers

The same coalition is now defending the district court’s decision at the First Circuit Court of Appeals, where the State of Maine and DOJ have renewed their efforts to weaken the settlement to the detriment of children and families.