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.