The state agency in charge of New Hampshire’s youth detention center is seeking more than a million dollars to keep temporary youth counselors at the facility. But that would still leave the facility short staffed as it contends with investigations into alleged abuse and an extended lockdown.
A legislative investigation found in May that long-standing staff shortages at the Sununu Youth Services Center contributed to recent abuse allegations of illegal restraints and unrest inside the facility that included staff and youth injuries, and a call to the state police in May.
The Department of Health and Human Services has asked the Executive Council to help ease that shortage by allowing it to keep on 18 temporary youth counselors for another year. The $1.3 million dollar contract, first approved in 2021, is expected to be taken up at Wednesday’s council meeting.
That would still leave the facility short 14 youth counselors, according to the agency. Marie Noonan, director of the Division for Children, Youth, and Families, which oversees the Sununu Center, told lawmakers it has been unable to fully staff the facility due to budget cuts.
The abuse and neglect allegations remain under investigation by the Attorney General's office, the Disability Rights Center in New Hampshire, and the state Office of the Child Advocate, an independent watchdog.
The state Oversight Commission on Children’s Services, which includes lawmakers and child safety advocates, released its 12-page investigative report in May.
The Department of Health and Human Services has disputed allegations that staff abused youth inside the facility with illegal restraints or held them in a weeks-long lockdown.
