More NH kids will soon be owed legal representation. Will enough attorneys say yes?

By ANNMARIE TIMMINS

New Hampshire Public Radio

Published: 12-29-2024 6:30 PM

Beginning in 2025, the state must provide lawyers to children in some family law cases, including abuse and neglect proceedings where a child has been removed from their home or is likely to be.

All but about a dozen states already do.

Advocates call it a welcomed recognition that children’s interests may differ from their parents. But some worry recruiting those lawyers could prove challenging — because, for most attorneys, working as a court-appointed lawyer in New Hampshire means taking a pay cut.

Some of that recruitment will fall to the New Hampshire Judicial Council and its executive director, Jay Buckey. His organization and the Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire are hosting a training in January with hopes of enticing and preparing lawyers to take on these cases.

Buckey said a recent increase in rates for lawyers representing indigent adults facing criminal charges has helped — but not solved — recruitment challenges. He is hoping his sales pitch to the state’s lawyers also helps.

“These cases can be difficult. They can be complex, and they can be hard,” Buckey said. “I think they can also be rewarding. And obviously they’re very important, because it’s a chance to make a huge difference in someone’s life.”

It’s difficult to estimate how many children will need lawyers because the new law limits legal representation to cases involving abuse and neglect or the termination of parental rights, Buckey said. Children must be living in a group home or institution or likely facing placement. And it will be up to a judge to decide which children require a lawyer.

Children ages 16 to 17 will be eligible for counsel beginning in July. In October, that will be extended to children between 14 and 15. All children will be eligible the following year.

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Juveniles will still have the advocacy of guardian ad litems or trained volunteers from CASA of New Hampshire to represent their “best” interest.”

Court appointed lawyers will instead represent a child’s “expressed” interest, which can differ, advocates said. Children need both, they said.

That’s especially true when an adolescent is being removed from their home, school, and friends and placed in an institution, possibly out of state, said Lisa Wolford, founder and executive director of the Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire. She said New Hampshire invests a lot in residential placements but much less in family-based solutions.

“And being placed in an institution is really traumatizing for a child who already has experienced trauma,” she said.

The state is defending a lawsuit in federal court that makes the same argument.

Removing a child from their school, Wolford added, often interrupts or halts their education.

They may fall behind on credits, jeopardizing their ability to earn a high school diploma.

They may not get the counseling they need or land in a frightening environment with no advocate to support them.

“These are really restrictive facilities that subject kids to searches of their person, metal wanding, searches of their rooms, of their possessions,” Wolford said. “They also miss a really important component of mitigating childhood trauma, which is having a caring adult who can act as a mentor for them.”

The Disability Rights Center-NH and Waypoint joined Wolford in urging lawmakers to support the bill this year.

“Children are really at the center of a child protection case and they are the only party right now who does not have counsel,” Emily Lawrence, Waypoint’s deputy advocacy director, told the Senate Judiciary Committee in January. “These kids are out of sight, out of mind when they are in residential placement.”

“The more people we have advocating for these children we believe the better,” she said.

These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.