In 2021, Cassandra Sanchez was working for the Massachusetts Department for Children and Families in Lowell and growing frustrated with red tape and ineffective bureaucracies. She decided she needed to find a new role — one where she could enact systemic change. “I felt at a certain point that I wasn’t helping families by doing […]
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander waded into the ongoing controversy at the Sununu Youth Services Center this week as she called on federal prosecutors to open their own investigation into the Manchester juvenile justice facility. The Office of the Child Advocate first raised concerns about staff being potentially abusive toward the facility’s underage detainees in a […]
Jason Taylor, one of New Hampshire’s two assistant child advocates, said the Office of the Child Advocate’s final report on its investigation into potential abuse and neglect at the Sununu Youth Services Center could take “certainly weeks but maybe months” to complete. “Really, what I hope our report will talk about is the impacts of […]
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office says a multi-month review found no evidence of recent systemic abuse at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester and concluded that the facility is “operating within legal boundaries” — contradicting concerns by a state watchdog. In a 56-page report released Tuesday, the Attorney General’s Office said that while […]
A group of state lawmakers have decided the proceeds from selling the Sununu Youth Services Center should go to the state’s general fund, rather than directly into a settlement fund for victims of abuse at that facility. The move doesn’t preclude the state from using that money to compensate victims, but it doesn’t guarantee it. […]
Joshua Nye, who ran New Hampshire’s youth detention facility in Manchester for less than six months, has resigned, the Department of Health and Human Services announced this week. “Joshua Nye submitted his resignation on May 20, 2026, effective immediately, and it was accepted by DCYF Director Marie Noonan,” Jake Leon, spokesperson for the department, wrote […]
The New Hampshire House and Senate finished their last traditional voting days Thursday, taking action on hundreds of bills as they seek to wrap up the year. Now comes the messy part. While the hearings, floor debates, and major amendments to the bills are done, most of the legislation that has passed is still not […]
The Sununu Youth Services Center has been rocked in recent weeks by new allegations of abuse and neglect, and Cinde Warmington, a Democratic challenger in the New Hampshire governor’s race, blames Gov. Kelly Ayotte and a budget cut she signed into law. Specifically, Warmington points to cuts to the Office of the Child Advocate. The […]
Cassandra Sanchez packed up her desk at the Office of the Child Advocate weeks ago, but her final day still hasn’t arrived. Sanchez has served as New Hampshire’s child advocate, the official watchdog that oversees the state’s youth-focused systems, such as the foster care or juvenile justice, since 2022. She’s the second person to hold […]
The Disability Rights Center-NH has announced that it too has found evidence of potential abuse occurring at the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly known as the Youth Detention Center or YDC, in Manchester — just weeks after the Office of the Child Advocate independently released its own findings of potential abuse and neglect. In a […]