AUGUSTA — Maine is promising to improve children’s behavioral health services to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice, the governor’s office announced Tuesday.

In September, the DOJ sued Maine for what it described as “unnecessarily segregating children with behavioral health disabilities in hospitals, residential facilities and a state-operated juvenile detention facility in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.”

The suit followed a June 2022 letter in which the federal government listed civil rights violations.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills said in the last two years she has worked with the Legislature to invest $260 million to improve services for children with behavioral health needs.

“I shared many of the U.S. DOJ’s concerns, many of which preceded my Administration, and we have worked closely with the Legislature to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to strengthen the system — important reforms which we believe in and that we continue to implement,” Mills said.

The settlement requires the state to commit to providing timely assessments of children’s behavioral health needs and care coordination; to restore services for children with high acuity behavioral health needs and to reduce wait lists for services.

Some of the steps already taken include spending $2.5 million to train foster parents on therapeutic intensive home treatment and investing $15.4 million annually to expand staffing, training and accessibility of services at the Maine Crisis Line, Mobile Crisis and Cumberland County Crisis Receiving Center, according to the governor’s office.

In addition, in Bangor, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services is piloting a children’s behavioral health urgent care walk up center. The pilot program has already served 150 youth who are experiencing anxiety, depression and other behavioral health needs.

The largest investment is $237 million to reform rates paid for behavioral health services covered by MaineCare.

“The settlement allows the Department to prioritize the critical work needed to improve access to services over litigation,” DHHS Commissioner Sara Gagne-Holmes said in a statement. “The State of Maine agrees that it has an obligation to protect and care for children with disabilities and behavioral health needs, and that’s why we’ve dedicated years of time and investments to rebuilt Maine’s children’s behavioral health services."