Why is New Hampshire's DCYF Failing Children and Families?

Most people agree that the child welfare systems in New Hampshire are failing children. High profile cases in recent news have shed light on the shortcomings of these systems and horrific abuse that has taken place as a result. Additionally, almost everyone knows someone who has been through the Family Division of the Circuit Court that claims unfair, unjust, and unlawful processes that have resulted in harm to children and parents alike. In the NH Family

Justice Spotlight Newsletter from January 2025, the focus was on some major issues regarding DCYF and how child abuse allegations are handled in New Hampshire.

Child Abuse Not Treated Like Other Crimes - For any crime reported to police, if a report or affidavit is submitted by a witness with their name tied to it under pain and penalties of perjury, a prosecutor can present it to a judge as probable cause and seek a surveillance, search, and/or arrest warrant. This allows fast action to protect children and collect hard evidence, while also ensuring there is liability on the part of the accuser if it comes to light that they knew what was alleged was untrue. This reduces the likelihood of false reports and waste of taxpayer resources. It also ensures that in court, the defendant can face their accuser, as guaranteed by the constitution. An arrest based on evidence removes the accused from the presence of the allegedly abused child and ensures the child’s safety until an arraignment hearing, where bail conditions or pre-trial protective orders can be established to further protect the child until prosecution and trial are complete.

DCYF Process Flawed - In contrast, DCYF are not law enforcement, and when they receive a report, especially an anonymous report, it does not amount to evidence for probable cause, and would not be sufficient to obtain a warrant. Therefore, DCYF employees must rely on voluntary cooperation from the accused, providing an opportunity for evidence to be hidden, the child moved, coached or threatened, or worse, before sufficient evidence for a search warrant or arrest warrant can be obtained. Taking child abuse investigations out the hands of trained law enforcement and placing it under the authority of DCYF CPSWs has allowed vulnerable children to slip through the cracks. CPSWs have been known to mishandle evidence, making it impossible for law enforcement to later prosecute. In many cases, DCYF investigates and makes findings of abuse but takes no further action and closes the case. In other instances, they never make contact with the accused or the child in potential danger and close the case and move on.

Shockingly, there have been multiple cases in which DCYF advocated in court in favor of leaving a child in the care of adults who were already convicted of physically or sexually abusing them. Just as concerning, there are many reports of DCYF making false statements in family court against innocent parents, where it is proven DCYF CPSWs lied, and yet were never held accountable. This current system of child protection, where DCYF is conducting investigations, has only been in use for about 30 years. Prior to that child abuse was treated like any other crime, with the full investigatory power of trained law enforcement and guaranteed due process in a court of law for the accused. The experiment has failed, and children and families have been harmed as a result.

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