Kim Miller, CWAPA
Assistant Child Welfare Program Administrator
Maine Department of Health and Human Services
98 North Avenue
Skowhegan, ME 04841
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Maine
Kim Miller, Assistant Child Welfare Program Administrator for Maine's
Office of Child and Family Services, the Skowhegan Office, has made
an outstanding contribution to improving the lives of abused and
neglected children and their families with her extraordinary commitment
to the safety and well-being of children in Somerset County.
Under her direction, the Skowhegan Protective, Children's Services,
Adoption, and Licensing caseworkers freely act on their belief that all
children deserve a healthy and safe family life in a community that
cares and respects them. Ms. Miller supported her staff in a concerted
effort to increase the number of child protective assessments, resulting
in 100 percent assignment for caseworker intervention of all reports of
abuse and neglect since July 2006.
Ms. Miller encourages her staff with the belief that well-being can be
achieved best when children remain with their family. In those instances
of removal of children from their birth family, every effort is made
to place the child with relatives whenever safely possible to ensure the
child's ability to maintain family, community, school, and friendship
ties. The Skowhegan office began the 2006 year of its Program Improvement
Plan with 69 percent of children placed either with kin or in
close proximity to their communities, and, by year's end, 79.3 percent
experienced such placements—a clear demonstration of Ms. Miller's
capacity to lead her staff with a commitment to achieving family connections
for all children.
Ultimately, Ms. Miller clearly appreciates each child to be a unique individual
with a right to all the basic needs of family connection, safety,
and a greater community that supports them. In addition to engaging
her staff, she involves the entire community in the effort to prevent
abuse and neglect and to develop strategies to address the needs of
children and families.
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