State senators to file legislation addressing abuse and neglect in NH’s disability care system

Photos of Stephen Weidlich Jr. adorn the shelves and dressers of the Weidlich family home. Weidlich died in 2022. (Photo by William Skipworth/New Hampshire Bulletin)

State Sen. David Rochefort, a Littleton Republican, said he and the state’s legislative staff are in the process of drafting a bill aimed at addressing systemic abuse and neglect issues in New Hampshire intellectual and developmental disability care system.

In November, the Bulletin published a series of articles outlining abuse and neglect — sometimes fatal — committed by caretakers against people with disabilities. The stories also uncovered systemic failures of oversight and prevention that allowed the abuse and neglect to happen. State records obtained by the Bulletin show that from January 2023 through the first six months of 2025, 467 credible reports of abuse, neglect, and exploitation against people in the system were investigated by the state. The records also show 119 deaths occurred across the system during that time.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are legally entitled to care funded and overseen by the state. In New Hampshire, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Bureau of Developmental Services contracts with 10 private area agencies, each responsible for a region of the state, to coordinate the care.

While investigating these tragedies, the Bulletin spoke with several family members of people within this system who were abused or neglected, their attorneys, and advocates within the community. Rochefort, who is chairman of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, said the series alarmed him and pushed him to look into the issue.

More from this section

Conway woman denied bail on drug charge

Movies and TV shows casting in Portsmouth

How gas prices have changed in New Hampshire in the last week

• +4

“I don’t think there’s any opposition to making change here,” Rochefort said. “I think there’s a real desire to do something now from everyone involved, even senators who are not on (the Health and Human Services Committee), who approached me on this.”

He said colleagues from both parties have expressed support for the effort.

“I think that you’re going to see action happen sooner rather than later,” Rochefort said. “Nobody wants to kick the can here.”

Rochefort said he and his colleagues are “still working out the finer details” of the bill, but it’ll seek to strengthen oversight and improve data sharing to allow officials to better identify issues.

“Data on these things would be shared automatically, rather than the way that it’s shared now,” he said. “And it would give the state a better way to either respond to complaints or take action if there’s an issue.”

He also said the bill changes the composition of the Incapacitated and Vulnerable Adults Fatality Review Committee — a panel established by state law to review concerning deaths and make recommendations on how the state can prevent similar deaths in the future — to allow for “better representation of the communities affected and the people that would actually be able to affect change.”

The Bulletin previously reported on the December 2022 death of Stephen Weidlich Jr., a man with physical and developmental disabilities who was found dead behind the care home where he lived. Additionally, in July 2019, Christine Marie Bill, a woman with disabilities, was found dead after overheating in a hot, sealed car, according to the Bulletin’s reporting. Before the Bulletin published its findings, the co-chairs of the Incapacitated and Vulnerable Adults Fatality Review Committee, Vanessa Blais and Francesca Broderick, said they hadn’t been told about either death and that each should have been reviewed by the committee.