Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child And Youth Services topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Children, youth services face cuts to residential treatment and support contracts; SYSC staffing and costs remain a committee concern
Summary
Marie Noonan, director of DCYF, told senators the House budget removes about $10.8 million in children's residential-treatment funding across DHHS and that DCYF is concerned that reductions and contract cuts will put high‑need children at risk.
Marie Noonan, director of the Division for Children, Youth and Families, told the committee that DCYF and the Bureau for Children's Behavioral Health together face a $10.8 million reduction in children's residential-treatment funding under the House appropriation compared with the governor’s proposal. “We believe these put children with the highest needs at risk,” she said.
Noonan described the department’s strategy to reduce reliance on out-of-state residential care by expanding in-state residential, enhanced foster-care rates and community services. She said the House and governor both funded a new enhanced foster-care rate intended for short-term (roughly 60-day) placements that keep youth in family settings, and that transportation rate increases the department requested were included.
Noonan highlighted other program effects: the House removed funding for a licensed alcohol and drug abuse counselor (MLADAC) contract that co-locates substance-use assessment, testing and treatment with DCYF district offices; Noonan said the contract also enables immediate on-scene consultation during investigations and helps bypass community wait lists. Since July 1, 2024, the MLADAC expansion referred 183 youth to the program, Noonan said.
On juvenile corrections, Noonan reviewed the Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC) budget and staffing. The house reduced personnel and temporary-staffing allowances and applied a $300,000 blanket personnel reduction for fiscal 2026; Noonan said the department expects to hold back six position postings to meet the reduction but that doing so will leave the program short in 2027. She also defended SYSC staffing levels and operating costs as necessary to run a secure 24/7 treatment facility and said some of the prior-year budget assumptions had required overtime and temporary-staff contracts to preserve safety when staffing fell to critically low levels.
Noonan said DCYF received funding tied to legislative changes expanding jurisdiction for educational services (House Bill 1588) and for enhanced oversight of residential placements (Senate Bill 417) but that additional DCYF attorney positions requested to implement some oversight provisions were not funded.
Why this matters: Cuts to residential treatment and co-located substance-use assessment services, and uncertainty about SYSC personnel funding, affect placement options for high-needs youth, the department’s ability to provide immediate substance-use intervention and the costs of secure care.
Noonan said DCYF will review every residential case to determine whether step-down placements are appropriate and asked the committee to consider moving general-fund appropriations between years to smooth demand spikes and to restore funding for critical contracts and positions removed in the House budget.
