Crisis + keep-safe page
This page is for moments when a person should not be left alone with child-access pressure, despair, fear, or the sense that nothing will change.
Crisis support + access to justice
When child-access pressure stops feeling procedural, the site should say that plainly and keep help close.
I do not want this platform to act like every family-court or child-access crisis is just a paperwork problem. Sometimes it is fear. Sometimes it is collapse. Sometimes it is a point where someone may not stay safe without real support.
This page is here for that exact moment: call and text support first, Maine crisis and advocacy doors second, and the cleanest access-to-justice routes right beside them so people are not forced to choose between staying safe and figuring out the next official step.
Use this page fastImmediate callsAll crisis contactsSave contactsRecord limitsJustice routesCarry this pageOfficial doorsForms + filingCourt week
Open crisis support Official doors Forms + filing Crisis guide PDF Find help fast
Page identity
This is the emergency-support page.
Use it when the family pressure is no longer just procedural and safety, mental health, or immediate stability has to come first.
Safety outranks everything else
Use it when support, counseling, or immediate crisis contact has to come before any court, policy, or packet conversation.
Move to Official Doors only after the immediate risk is lower
Once someone is safer, the official and practical routes can take over again.
Keep people alive first, then route the justice step
This page should hand readers into crisis lines, counseling, and only then into the next official or practical lane.
Use the crisis lane in order
Keep the human help first and the procedural step close behind it.
This page should move in a humane order: call or text support first, save the numbers, use justice doors only after the immediate risk is lower, then step back into the narrower practical page that matches the next task.
01
Call or text support before you keep reading.
When the day feels unbearable, another website section is not the first intervention.
02
Keep the crisis and Maine help contacts on the phone.
Make the support layer portable before the tab closes or the day gets louder again.
03
Use the record-limits section so the page does not overclaim.
Keep the proof language disciplined even while the support lane stays urgent.
04
Only after safety comes down, pick the clean next official step.
Move from survival support into the court, legal-help, or protection route that fits the actual task.
05
Use the smaller working page that matches what happens next.
Preparation, forms, court week, or after-hearing work should take over once the immediate crisis step is handled.
In the same practical lane
Keep the nearby pages close.
These nearby pages turn stress into the next usable step instead of another dead-end.
Start here fast
Use the calm first-step page when the next move needs to stay simple.
Open Start here fastFind help fast
Search the platform in plain language when you do not yet know the right page.
Open Find help fastOfficial doors
Use the verified Maine help doors instead of hunting through agency menus.
Open Official doorsPrepare + organize
Gather, sort, and carry the file before the next call, clinic, or hearing.
Open Prepare + organizeNeed help now?
Crisis support should stay closer than every other link on this site.
If child-access pressure, family-court pressure, or fear for safety is making today feel dangerous or unbearable, start with crisis support, counseling, and the cleanest Maine justice doors first.
Use this page fast
Different readers should be able to take the safest next step without reading everything first.
Call and text support first
Keep the crisis, safety, and family-stability doors visible, simple, and real.
Use these before forms, public-record work, campaign pages, or online arguments when immediate safety, abuse, child protection, mental health, housing, or family stability is the real first problem.
911
Call 911 if someone is in immediate danger, weapons are involved, a child may be actively harmed, or emergency medical help is needed.
988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
Call or text 988, or use the Lifeline chat, when suicidal thoughts, self-harm risk, panic, despair, or emotional crisis needs a trained response.
Maine Crisis Line
Call 1-888-568-1112 or use 711 through Maine Relay for Maine’s crisis response service for individuals or families in behavioral-health crisis or thoughts of suicide/self-harm.
Domestic violence advocacy
Call Maine’s statewide domestic-violence helpline at 1-866-834-4357 when fear, coercive control, stalking, threats, shelter, or safety planning is part of the family pressure.
Sexual assault support
Call Maine’s statewide sexual-assault helpline at 1-800-871-7741 for free, private support connected to Maine sexual-assault support centers.
Child abuse or neglect concerns
Call Maine OCFS Child Protective Intake at 1-800-452-1999 when suspected child abuse or neglect needs to be reported. Call 911 first if the danger is immediate.
211 Maine
Dial 211 or text your ZIP code to 898-211 for help finding Maine food, housing, transportation, childcare, family, and local support resources.
Use a safer device if you may be monitored
If an unsafe person may see this page, your browser history, email, texts, location, or downloads, use a safer phone/computer or ask an advocate about safer contact before saving materials.
One calm rule
Safety first. Then the next written step.
If the pressure is acute, lead with the crisis line, advocate, child-safety report, or emergency door. After that, bring the next paper, date, and question into one place so the next court, agency, or support step can be taken without trying to solve everything at once.
Save to phone now
Keep the shortest crisis and help contacts in the phone, not only in a browser tab.
When the day is live, a saved contact card is often more useful than another tab. Keep the crisis numbers, the family-help contacts, and one clean guide close enough to open without searching.
Maine crisis contacts card for the phone
Save the crisis line, 988, 211 Maine, domestic-abuse help, and sexual-assault support as contacts instead of leaving them trapped inside a PDF.
Maine family-help contacts card for the phone
Save the first verified doors for 211, child safety reporting, court forms, child support, housing, and legal help in one importable contact file.
One clean crisis guide
Use the short guide when the right move is one calm send, not a longer explanation of the whole platform.
Open the fastest live support doors
When the browser is already too much, use the direct call or text actions first and come back to the pages after that.
What the record does and does not show
The honest answer is not a clean Western-country count. It is a data-gap note plus the closest related public evidence.
Why I am handling it this way
I would rather tell the truth about a data gap than fake a statistic for effect.
The stronger public standard is this: where the exact count is missing, say so plainly; where related distress and system pressure are documented, say that plainly too; and in either case keep the suicide-prevention and justice doors close enough to matter in real life.
Access to justice routes
When you can do one official step today, use the cleanest door.
Showing all routes.
Protection orders and advocates
Use the Judicial Branch abuse-and-harassment pages when the child-access problem is tied to danger, coercion, or violence. The court page also explains how advocates can help with paperwork, support, and safety planning.
Parental rights and responsibilities
Use the official parental-rights page when the issue is a court order about a child, decision-making, or contact. If there is no order in place, Maine law presumes equal parental rights and responsibilities.
Ask the court to waive filing fees if you cannot afford them
The Maine family-case process page says a person who cannot afford the filing fee can file an Application to Proceed without Payment of Fees (CV-067) with the required financial affidavit.
Use VLP and PTLA when public information is no longer enough
Use the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project and Pine Tree Legal Assistance when the case needs actual legal help, clinic support, or civil legal-aid intake instead of another explainer page.
Child-support services and review routes
Use the state child-support service pages when the pressure point is paternity, collection, review, adjustment, or an existing support order.
Use the official court forms and self-help pages
The Judicial Branch forms page is where Maine says the most up-to-date forms live, and outdated versions can be returned as incomplete. Use that page before relying on an old saved packet.
No exact justice route yet. Try a simpler term like protection order, parental rights, fee waiver, legal help, forms, or child support.
Carry this page
Make the crisis-support layer portable too.
Crisis support + access to justice guide
A short route map for crisis support, crisis counseling, and the cleanest justice doors when access pressure is part of the crisis.
Maine crisis contacts card
Keep the shortest contact layer close for 988, Maine Crisis Line, 211 Maine, domestic-violence help, and the quickest justice doors.
Official Maine help doors
Use the official-doors page when you want the broader set of verified court, state, housing, legal-help, and advocacy links in one place.
Return to the Family Hub after safety is covered
Once the immediate crisis door is open, the Family Hub, Court Week, and Prepare + Organize pages help people keep the next written steps from drifting away.
Keep moving through the help lane
Stabilize first, then sort, then verify.
Use crisis support or verified Maine help doors when today is not stable enough for browsing.
The right first move is often safety support, counseling, or a direct official help door rather than more reading.
Use the organization pages before the next date drifts closer.
Gather, sort, and carry only what helps: paperwork, call notes, hearing-week tools, and filing routes.
Use the flagship proof layer when you need public receipts, not just next steps.
When someone asks why the site is built this way, move from practical help into the dashboard and evidence center.