OCFS Announces New Mandated Reporter Training
The Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS), in partnership with the Maine Child Welfare Action Network (MCWAN), recently released a new training for mandated reporters and updated information on the OCFS website regarding mandated reporting. The new training integrates information on mandated reporting with resources that will support mandated reporters who have concerns about a family but do not suspect abuse or neglect. Since launching this June, over 6,200 people have successfully completed the new training.
Why the Training Was Developed
This project was initiated after OCFS and community partners received significant feedback during the development and implementation of Maine’s Child Safety and Family Well-Being Plan. Feedback from a variety of mandated reporters indicated that they felt unsure of available resources for families in need of support and, at times, made reports to OCFS in an effort to connect children and families to community support.
What the Data Showed
Development of the new training was heavily informed by data and stakeholder engagement.
In 2025, OCFS received 29,199 reports of suspected child abuse and neglect. Of those, 19,890 (68%) were screened out after not meeting criteria for investigation. To better assess whether those screen outs were appropriate, OCFS looked back at the cases and confirmed that only .06 percent of the cases had future findings – meaning that over 99 percent did not have future findings.
Of the 9,309 reports that were investigated, 2,744 resulted in a finding of abuse or neglect. Overall, 90 percent of reports received in 2025 did not result in a finding of abuse or neglect.
In addition, over the last two years, OCFS and MCWAN partnered to conduct focus groups with parents with lived experience in the child welfare system, mandated reporter trainers, and child welfare staff; disseminate a survey to mandated reporters (which received 946 responses); and engage Casey Family Programs to research the efforts of other jurisdictions to strengthen mandated reporting.
The data and information collected through these efforts indicated that some families referred to OCFS were experiencing challenges affecting child and/or family well-being but might have been better served through connections to community-based supports, services, and resources. Because OCFS is only authorized to intervene when a child is in circumstances that present a substantial risk of abuse or neglect, many families are left without formal agency support or meaningful connections to community services and other resources that could address their needs and strengthen family well-being. As a result, mandated reporters also reported feeling frustrated by the lack of agency action to provide support.
Legislative and System Improvements
To address these concerns, OCFS and MCWAN partnered to develop a plan to strengthen Maine’s statutory definition of abuse and neglect, improve mandated reporting through updated training, and broadly disseminate information about community supports and services available to Maine families.
In 2025, the Legislature enacted a proposal developed by a coalition including OCFS to clarify the statutory definition of abuse or neglect in the Child and Family Services Act to differentiate between neglect and poverty. In 2026, the Legislature supported an update to Maine’s mandated reporting statute that was developed by a coalition of parents with lived experience, community organizations, mandated reporters, and OCFS staff. That bill included, among other things, an increase in the statutorily required frequency of training for mandated reporters from every four years to every two years.
New Training and Resources
The new mandated reporter training reflects these statutory changes while also providing additional clarity regarding the role of Maine’s child welfare agency, information and resources to support families in accessing available community resources, and improved guidelines for mandated reporting to strengthen the information available to OCFS when screening reports.
Mandated reporters can access a self-paced virtual version of the new training at MaineMandatedReporter.org. OCFS and MCWAN are currently working to train facilitators on this new curriculum and will disseminate information on facilitated training as soon as it is available. More information on mandated reporting (including any updates on facilitator training) is available on OCFS’ website.
Looking Ahead
Mandated reporters are a critical component of efforts to keep Maine’s children and families safe and strong. Through their relationships with children and families, they are often best positioned to recognize and report suspected abuse or neglect, while also helping connect families to community supports and resources.
Families are strongest when the systems around them work together toward a shared vision of child and family well-being. The work to strengthen mandated reporting and update the training reflects the deep impact that partners across Maine’s child welfare system can have when working collectively. OCFS is grateful for the significant efforts of MCWAN and the Maine Children’s Trust on this work and for the contributions of countless individuals, including parents and others with lived experience in the child welfare system, mandated reporters, community partners, and providers.
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