Collaborate & Listen Podcast
Our executive director talked to Ben Van Camp of the Portsmouth Chamber Collaborative about her public interest background, the work CLC-NH does, some of the reasons outcomes are so poor for New Hampshire foster children, and what systemic reform looks like.
Listen to the podcast episode on Spotify
The Right to Counsel for Child Victims of Abuse and Neglect Finally Goes Live on 1/1/26
If you were involved in court proceedings in which the judge had the authority to remove you from your family, friends, school, pets, doctors, community—from everything you knew, loved, or felt connected to—wouldn’t you want legal representation?
On January 1, 2026, child victims of abuse and neglect sent to live in institutions finally got the right to have an attorney advocate for their legal interests.
Thanks to bipartisan legislation championed over the course of 3 years by the Children's Law Center of New Hampshire and its partner nonprofits (thank you DRC-NH, NHLA, Waypoint, New Futures, and ACLU-NH), some of the state's most vulnerable children will now have an attorney stand by them to navigate the complex legal proceedings that are abuse and neglect cases.
CLC-NH joins Learn Forum panel “Protecting Marginalized and At-Risk Children and Adolescents”
CLC-NH was honored to join the Seacoast Women’s Giving Circle’s 2025 Learned Forum on the challenges facing children and youth. How can the community help? In several ways, according to CLC-NH Executive Director Lisa Wolford, including ensuring “the decision makers in children’s lives—parents, teachers, pediatricians, judges—learn ACEs, its impact on children’s developing brains, its consequences in adulthood, and the protective factors necessary to mitigate it in childhood.”
CLC-NH and the NH Judicial Council present a 90-minute live webcast featuring Dr. Martin Irwin.
Psychiatrist Martin Irwin, MD, joins CLC-NH to discuss the consequences of congregate placement on children who have experienced childhood trauma. Dr. Irwin is a clinical professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He has designed community-based programs at the interface of child welfare, child mental health, and education systems, including award-winning programs for mental health services for foster children, for improving the consent process for treatment with psychiatric medications, and reducing the over usage of medication for children. He lectures widely to medical, mental health, social work, legal, advocacy, and child welfare audiences.
CLC-NH hires Children’s Rights Attorney
Thanks to a generous grant from the New Hampshire Bar Foundation IOLTA Program, we are thrilled to announce that Holly Salois, Esq. has joined the Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire as a Children’s Rights Attorney. Holly graduated from UNH Franklin Pierce School of Law in May 2022 as a member of the Daniel Webster Scholar Honors Program. She was a McLane Middleton associate, clerked for Chief Justice Gordon MacDonald at the NH Supreme Court, and interned at Disability Rights Center – NH and the 9th Circuit Court – Family Division in Manchester. Holly is passionate about public interest legal advocacy and will be a tremendous asset to at-risk children and youth in New Hampshire.
Our legislative advocacy is in the news!
The Children’s Law Center collaborates with other child welfare nonprofits to advocate for laws that lead to better outcomes for disadvantaged children. As the result of our advocacy during the 2023-2024 legislative session, with the commitment of a bipartisan group of state senators and representatives dedicated to child welfare reform, we succeeded in getting SB 463 signed into law. Some of the most vulnerable children in the state—victims of child abuse and neglect who the State has sent to residential institutions or are at high risk of institutionalization—now have the right to a lawyer who will advocate for their legal interests.
A must-read: The CLC-NH Law Bulletin, Volume 1
Our work across child welfare and special education contexts requires us to be interdisciplinary experts in many areas of law. To improve outcomes for children across the state and effect systemic improvement, we think it is important to share that expertise with other lawyers, judges, and professionals whose work touches our clients’ lives. We’ve designed the CLC-NH Law Bulletin as one way to do that.
We support meaningful efforts to keep kids out of the child welfare system.
That’s why the Children’s Law Center joined other child-focused organizations at the New Hampshire Juvenile Diversion Summit on June 11, 2024. We connected with some of our constant collaborators and made new connections with some amazing behavioral health organizations.
Thank you, New Hampshire Bar Foundation!
We’re grateful to have received a 2024 Bar Foundation Justice Grant from the Foundation’s Advancement of Justice Fund and the Frederic P. Upton Justice Fund, to create a Know Your Rights guide that will give children in foster care answers to the kinds of questions our clients ask: Where will I go to school? Can my brothers and sisters visit me? What if someone hurts me? Can I wear my own clothes? When can I go home? How do I tell the judge what I want? For more on NHBF Justice Grants: https://www.nhbar.org/nh-bar-foundation/grant-programs
New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Gary E. Hicks (Ret.) Joins Our Board
The Children’s Law Center is honored to welcome Justice Gary Hicks to its Board of Directors. Justice Hicks retired from the Supreme Court on November 30 after 17 years on the state’s highest court. A thoughtful and reasoned jurist, he is an impassioned advocate for the mission of the Children’s Law Center and will serve as its Board president.
The Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire, a legal services nonprofit dedicated to improving outcomes for at-risk children, is exceptionally proud to announce that Hon. Gary Hicks has joined its board of directors and was promptly elected to serve as board president.
The Crisis of Childhood Poverty, Trauma, and the Child Welfare System: Challenging the Status Quo
Based on research, data, and the work of the Children’s Law Center, Executive Director Lisa Wolford authored an article about the toll poverty takes on children — particularly those in foster care.
Children’s Law Center Executive Director Lisa Wolford writes about children in New Hampshire’s challenged child welfare system, the need for community-based protective childhood experiences, and protecting children’s legal rights.
CLC-NH Presents on Adverse Childhood Experiences
We were invited to present on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) at the National Defender Investigator Association 2023 conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Our presentation focused on advocacy for children that rejects a persistent false narrative: that children who have suffered significant childhood trauma and experience emotional and behavioral dysregulation are bad kids.
The Children’s Law Center team—Executive Director Lisa Wolford and Litigation Director Stephanie Hausman—traveled to Providence, RI to present on ACEs and PCEs (positive childhood experiences) at the National Defender Investigator Association Regional Conference.
CLC-NH at 2023 Portsmouth Pride
Kid’s art and more at Portsmouth Pride
The Children’s Law Center was proud to be a part of Portsmouth Pride! We marched in the June 24, 2023 Portsmouth Pride parade and hosted a table at the Strawbery Banke Pride Marketplace. We connected with lots of amazing child welfare professionals — and with lots of incredible kids, who gave our still-new logo a whole new look. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to make art and talk with us, and to Seacoast Outright (https://www.seacoastoutright.org/) for making it all happen.
