PUBLICATIONS

February 18, 2025 - The 2024 Maine KIDS COUNT® Data Book continues to focus on our commitment to equity and elevating the voices of people closest to the issues and solutions.  

January 17, 2025  - The Maine Children’s Alliance advocates for sound public policies and promotes best practices to improve the lives of Maine children, youth, and families. In the first regular session of the 132nd Maine Legislature, MCA is committed to elevating the voices and interests of Maine children, youth, and families. Our priorities focus on important investments to improve the many systems of support children, youth, and families depend on for their health, safety, and well-being. Our state budget should sustain critical investments in a variety of supports and services that ensure children and their families have economic security, access to child care, food, and housing. Efforts should focus on strengthening children and families with the greatest needs.

April 9, 2024 - Trends in demographic data represent both challenges and opportunities for Maine to achieve the goal of being a thriving place for all to live, work, and raise a family. With the oldest population in the nation, Maine faces the challenges of caring for older adults and meeting its current and future workforce needs. On the positive side, migration to Maine by people from out-of-state and shifts in racial representation are making Maine more diverse. By recognizing the trends in our population, we can better plan for the programs, services, and systems that will ensure greater long-term social and economic prosperity for all children, families, and our state in general.

March 13, 2024 - Learn more about the work the Maine Chidren's Alliance is doing right now to advocate for what children, youth, and families in Maine need to thrive. 

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - These profiles include a summary of each county’s strengths and challenges, demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being. They offer insight into how policies and practices in Maine are working and where there are opportunities for improvement.

February 2, 2024 - Maine demographic data, and select indicators of child health and well-being.  

December 19, 2023 - The Maine Children’s Alliance advocates for sound public policies and promotes best practices to improve the lives of all Maine children, youth, and families. In the second session of the 131 st Maine Legislature, MCA is committed to elevating the voices and interests of Maine children and families. Our priorities cross issue areas, involve new legislation, the implementation of recently enacted legislation, and administrative action in key areas of child and family well-being. State investments should prioritize strengthening families with the greatest needs and bolstering the critical services and programs that support them.

December 19, 2023 - MCA’s legislative advocacy, relationships with policymakers, data and communications, and work in coalitions led to unprecedented advances in policies and investments to improve the well-being of Maine children, youth, and families.

November 3, 2023 - Child welfare continues to appear in headlines as policymakers and state leaders react to the challenges faced by our state’s child welfare system. Information about the efficacy of the child welfare agency is important and deserves routine discussion and thoughtful analysis. However, our focus and attention cannot stop there. Why are so many families struggling? We must find ways to work together to help parents and caregivers provide safety and stability for their children.

July 5, 2023 - Budgets are a reflection of our state values and priorities. The recent bipartisan budget agreement reflects what we know to be true: The Maine child care system needs new investments to better work for children, families, early educators and employers.

June 21, 2023 - The 34th edition of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT® Data Book describes how the country’s lack of affordable and accessible child care negatively affects children, families and U.S. businesses.

June 14, 2023 - Maine ranks 12th in the nation on measures of child well-being following improvements in community and family health, according to a new report. The 2023 Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation cited a slight drop in the number of children living in high-poverty areas in Maine, and fewer kids living in single-parent households. But a lack of affordable and accessible child care continues to affect families statewide. Helen Hemminger, research and Kids Count associate for the Maine Children's Alliance, said even those who can afford child care may not be able to find it.

June 14, 2023 - Mainers have a long tradition of working together to solve tough problems. Right now, we face a significant, but solvable challenge of an inadequate early care and education (ECE) system. In fact, the problem is that it isn’t a “system” at all but a patchwork of programs of variable quality, affordability, and availability throughout the state. This creates inequities in opportunity both for children’s healthy development and the stability of our workforce. What can we do to support the needs of our modern workforce and ensure Maine has a professional and thriving early care and education system? In the following sections, we briefly describe the current challenges facing both families and providers, strategies to help repair our patchwork of programs throughout the state to create a true early childhood system, and what kinds of investments are required to build and sustain that system.

May 9, 2023 - There’s a new plan at the State House designed to protect vulnerable Mainers. It comes from the Department of Health and Human Services just weeks after a study found Maine has the highest rate of abuse and neglect in the country, more than twice the national average. "The vision established in this plan is that Maine will be a place where all families live in supportive communities and can get the help they need when they need it,” Melissa Hackett of the Maine Children’s Alliance said.

May 4, 2023 - The Maine Children’s Alliance recently released the 2023 KIDS COUNT Data Book on the well-being of Maine children and families. Feedback from across the state and political spectrum has been clear and consistent, and the data are sobering. Approximately 34,000 Maine children live in poverty. Child maltreatment is high. Maine youth are facing unprecedented mental health issues. Significant disparities persist across indicators when disaggregated by income, race and ethnicity, geography and other factors.

April 25, 2023 - The Maine Children's Alliance released its annual report on child welfare in Maine Tuesday.

April 19, 2023 - You will notice that the 2023 Maine KIDS COUNT Data Book looks different. We hope the new design makes finding and interpreting the data more accessible.

April 13, 2023 - A report on child welfare released by the Maine Children’s Alliance on Tuesday found that the number of Maine children living in poverty decreased in 2021, but remains an issue in rural areas.

February 15, 2023 - Governor Janet Mills has announced new initiatives in an effort to keep kids safe from abuse, neglect, drug overdoses and death.

January 9, 2023 - In the first regular session of the 131st Maine Legislature, MCA is committed to elevating the voices and interests of Maine children and families. Our priorities cross issue areas, involve new legislation, the implementation of recently enacted legislation, and administrative action in key areas of child and family well-being. State investments should prioritize strengthening families with the greatest needs and bolstering the critical services and programs that support them.