A coalition of civil rights groups has filed a notice in federal court raising concerns about what they say is the weakening of a 2024 settlement between Maine and the federal government over services for disabled children through Medicaid.

The July 28 court filing in U.S. District Court in Portland by Disability Rights Maine, the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, GLAD Law of Portland and the Massachusetts-based Center for Public Representation said that changes to the 2024 settlement have removed critical oversight over its implementation. The court filing said the groups could later move to intervene in the settlement.

In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against the Maine government alleging that the state was violating the civil rights of disabled children.

Among the allegations was that the state had failed to invest in community-based health care for children, resulting in “unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and a state-operated juvenile detention facility.”

Maine officials were put on notice in 2022 about the alleged violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act, and the Justice Department filed the lawsuit last year after failing to see adequate progress.

Among other issues, Maine lacked sufficient treatment options for children with behavioral health issues, at times leading to children languishing in hospital emergency rooms while awaiting placement for treatment. In one high-profile case, a 13-year-old girl spent nearly a year in the Redington-Fairview General Hospital emergency department in Skowhegan before she was placed in a group home in Orono in 2024.

The lawsuit was settled in November 2024, with Maine agreeing to improve services for children. As part of the settlement, Maine would hire an “independent reviewer” to evaluate and approve state plans for improving the system, according to the court filing.

After Maine approved a contract with Inspired Consulting Group to provide oversight in April 2025, the contract was withdrawn after the Department of Justice altered the agreement, eliminating the requirement for an “independent reviewer.”

“Eliminating the Independent Reviewer’s role will have significant, negative consequences — it would hamper the court’s ability to determine the status of compliance, make it harder for the parties to identify and resolve systemic barriers to implementation and remove a critical mechanism for ensuring children and families receive the benefits of the agreement,” according to the coalition’s court filing.

The Justice Department, in its Aug. 18 response, opposed the coalition’s July court filing, arguing that Disability Rights Maine, the ACLU and the other parties do not have standing because they were not part of the settlement agreement between Maine and the federal government.

The Justice Department said the settlement is more than “six months into the compliance phase” and that there will be strong enforcement.

“The parties (Justice Department and state of Maine) agree that the substantive requirements of the agreement will prevent children with behavioral health needs from unnecessarily entering or remaining in segregated facilities and will help children transition back home from such facilities when appropriate,” according to the response.

In a separate court filing, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey wrote that the state took no position on the civil rights group coalitions’ filing.