Maine
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Pre-Service Training 

Foster and adoptive parents—including relatives who foster or adopt—must complete the 24-hour Resource Family Introduction Training (RFIT) pre-service training, which was adapted from the National Training and Development Curriculum. No additional training is required for parents transitioning to adoption or guardianship.  

Services Offered Through the State’s Post-Permanency Support Program

The Maine Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) contracts with two private providers to support adoptive and guardianship families in the state—Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine (AFFM) and Community Health and Counseling Services (CHCS). Foster families and kinship caregivers are also eligible for support.

Services include:

All of the services outlined below are available to families before finalization as long as the child has been placed in the home.  

 When families seek clinical support from CHCS, the agency conducts an initial phone assessment that gathers information about the family’s needs. The assessment determines if the family is a good candidate for more intensive clinical support. If eligible for clinical support, families will be assessed and receive support related to the family’s functioning, child’s trauma history, parenting strategies and style, diagnoses, parental stress levels, and more. There is no formal treatment plan nor diagnoses provided to families.

Through CHCS’s Resource Parent Care Team (RPCT), licensed social workers, called liaisons, provide phone and email information, support, and referral to families in their region. They also conduct the initial phone assessment outlined above.

 For families with more significant needs, CHCS offers clinical supports to parents. Through in-home or telehealth visits, therapists work with parents to help them understand the impact of trauma, learn new parenting strategies, and access ongoing community-based supports. Therapists also offer emotional support. Sessions are held at least once per month but typically are weekly or biweekly at first. Parents are automatically eligible for 12 one-hour sessions, but this can be extended to 36 as needed. After 36 sessions, parents can return for additional support after taking a three- to six-month break. 

The clinical services described above can support families who are in crisis.

AFFM maintains a toll-free warmline accessible to callers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Coverage is provided by AFFM’s resource family specialists or the executive director, and they return urgent calls quickly if they are not able to answer them immediately. 

AFFM offers 18 support groups, including in person in each county and three virtual groups (one for adoptive parents, one for foster, and one for kinship). In-person meetings typically have onsite childcare, which allows children to interact with other children who are experiencing similar life events. Led by parents or caregivers, parent groups are designed for peer support and sharing practical tips and advice. Groups may offer training from time to time.

AFFM resource family specialists and kinship navigators, many of whom are parents or caregivers, are available to help families understand the intricacies of the adoption and guardianship journey. They provide emotional support and help families find and access outside services and resources. The AFFM web site also has many resources for families, including links to available trainings. The AFFM lending library allows families to request materials to be mailed to them anywhere in the state. 

AFFM’s resource family specialists and kinship navigators help families address some educational and school issues. They typically do a warm handoff to the Maine Parent Federation for more intensive support.

OCFS funds short-term emergency respite for guardianship or adoptive families at risk of disruption when respite resources are available. This is only approved when all other alternatives have been ruled out. The respite would be used while staff and the family work with service providers to implement the services needed to help prevent disruption. 

AFFM trains parent mentors and matches them with families who need extra peer support. 

AFFM hosts an annual two-day statewide conference for parents. They also offer individual trainings, mostly virtual, on a variety of topics for parents and cover the costs of Foster Parent College classes for any family who is interested. Each month, AFFM also hosts a virtual training specifically for kinship providers.

AFFM hosts a variety of events for families in each region and offers discount passes for many existing family events in the community.

AFFM offer scholarships of up to $500 for children to attend camp.  

OCFS uses its adoption/guardianship incentive funds to provide other flexible supports that will help families maintain the placement on a case-by-case basis. Services might include respite care, assistance to meet a safety issue in the home, transportation, etc.

OCFS supports about a minimum of 30 families per year through the flexible funding support. In fiscal year 2023, 215 new adoptive families received outreach by phone to advise of available supports, 73 families received individualized phone support, and 24 families received in-home clinical supports through Community Health and Counseling.  

For more information, visit https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/ocfs/support-for-families/fostering-adopting/resources-for-foster-or-adoptive-parents 

Geographic Area Covered

All services are available statewide. AFFM has two offices and has staff who live around the state in other areas. The resource family specialists/kinship navigators are each assigned to a particular region. CHCS’s parent care teams are also regional. Because some areas of the state have fewer resources to serve families, OCFS has worked to make sure services are available in all areas, including funding transportation and offering pilot projects.  

Eligible Population for the Overall Post-Permanency Program

  • All families who adopted from the state’s foster care system

  • All families who adopted from foster care in other states, territories, or tribes 

  • All families who adopted through intercountry adoption

  • All families who adopted through private adoption

  • All families who have guardianship of a child from foster care

  • All families who have guardianship of child not through foster care 

  • Kinship families who are not adoptive/guardianship parents 

  • Other (listed below):

    Foster families 

Variations in Eligibility for the Post-Permanency Program

State staff support and the flexible funding supports are only available to families who adopted from Maine foster care. 

Camp scholarships are for adoptive/guardianship families only. 

CHCS’s counseling services are available to kinship, foster, adoptive, and guardianship families. Kinship providers who are not involved with child welfare and therapeutic foster homes are not eligible. 

Outreach and Engagement

The state shares a folder that includes information about post-permanency services with parents when they become licensed. AFFM also receives notice of newly licensed families. AFFM co-facilitates the pre-service training and shares information about available post-permanency services during training. The CHCS resource parent care team attends the last session to provide an overview of the clinical support they provide 

The state provides CHCS with contact information for all families who have a new placement or who have finalized an adoption or guardianship, and CHCS reaches out to share information about their services.  

The state also provides AFFM with a monthly list of families who recently adopted or obtained permanency guardianship through the foster care system. AFFM’s resource family specialists reach out to the new families to share information about the available services. They also offer the families a backpack through the Jockey Being Family program.  

AFFM also shares information through social media, community events, and radio public service announcements. They conduct outreach to schools and share program flyers in all DHHS offices, probate courts, and district courts. 

How the Post-Permanency Program Is Operated

  • Through contracts or grants with multiple private agencies offering different services

  • By other state staff

Notes About Who Provides Which Service(s)

Community Health and Counseling Services (CHCS) offers therapeutic phone support and clinical services.  

 The state funds the respite care services and operates the program to provide the flexible supports. A small team of state staff help families with their adoption/guardianship assistance-related questions and provide referral and answer questions.  

Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine (AFFM) provides all other services described above. 

Adoption/Guardianship Assistance/Subsidy Review and Changes

Adoptive parents and guardians are responsible for notifying the state if there are any changes that would affect their child’s eligibility for adoption or guardianship assistance. The state conducts an annual review of only the assistance agreements that include a childcare subsidy. State staff also review agreements before a child turns 18 to determine if they may be eligible for extended support. 

 An adoptive parent or guardian can apply for an increase in the assistance agreement if there are substantial changes in the child’s needs or family’s circumstances and the family is not already receiving the highest rate. The Department will check to see if the family is potentially eligible for an increase and then will ask the parents/guardians to submit a formal application. The caregivers must provide clinical documentation that supports the need.  

Tracking Adoption/Guardianship Discontinuity

The state uses its data system to track children who re-enter foster care and to track when children adopted from another country enter foster care. When a child re-enters foster care, the caseworker also informs the permanency unit. 

Post-Permanency Program Spending (FY 2023)

  • $1 – $1,999,999 million

Funding Sources for the Post-Permanency Program (FY 2023)

  1. State funds 
  2. Title IV-B, Part 2 (Promoting Safe and Stable Families/PSSF) 
  3. Other federal funds  

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