Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Welfare topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate committee hears support for $3 million biennial appropriation for child advocacy centers
Summary
Supporters and public safety officials told the Senate Finance Committee that Senate Bill 64 would preserve current biennial funding of $3,000,000 to the Attorney General's Office to support New Hampshire Child Advocacy Centers (CACs); the committee later moved the bill forward by voice vote.
Senate Bill 64 would appropriate $3,000,000 over the biennium to the New Hampshire Department of Justice to fund the state's network of child advocacy centers, witnesses told the Senate Finance Committee. Grant Bossie, deputy chief of staff for the New Hampshire Senate, introduced the bill on behalf of Sen. Tim Lang and said the measure is intended to preserve level funding and place the Senate on record supporting continued CAC funding in the coming budget cycle.
The bill draws widespread support from providers and law-enforcement officials who said the centers are a best-practice model for conducting forensic interviews and coordinating multidisciplinary child-abuse investigations. Jory Barrett, chief executive officer of Granite State Children’s Alliance, said the 4 CACs the organization operates (Nashua, Manchester, Keene and Laconia) supported roughly 3,100 child-abuse investigations over the last two years and that the last biennial appropriation was “a game changer” for capacity, behavioral-health access and forensic interviewing staffing.
Nicole LeDoux, chief program officer for Granite State Children’s Alliance and a former Manchester police investigator, told the committee the prior funding allowed CACs to place a family-support specialist in every county, expand on-site behavioral-health services and retain experienced forensic interviewers. “Keeping this level funding will ensure that CACs in New Hampshire continue the work that they do…for our most vulnerable victims,” LeDoux said. LeDoux also told senators that about 80% of children who receive a forensic interview at CACs make a disclosure used by law enforcement and DCYF.
Manchester Police Chief Peter Marr and retired Manchester Police Chief and U.S. marshal Nick Willard also urged support. Marr called the centers “critical” to securing reliable, trauma-informed interviews that reduce repeated questioning and strengthen prosecutions. Strafford County Attorney Emily Grodd said trained forensic interviewers collect the “most accurate evidence possible,” which helps both to hold offenders accountable and to exonerate the innocent.
Committee procedure: after the public hearing the committee later took a procedural vote to move the bill forward. The committee recorded the voice vote as “the ayes have it.” No roll-call vote or vote tally was included in the hearing record.
What the bill would do next: Grant Bossie and other witnesses indicated that if the Finance Committee and Senate support the appropriation, the sponsor would seek to have the measure tabled for consideration as part of the state budget later this session (HB 2).
