Democratic candidate for governor Cinde Warmington argues Gov. Kelly Ayotte has spent her first year in office creating “another generation of victims.”
New Hampshire Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington on Wednesday accused Gov. Kelly Ayotte of allowing a new generation of abuse to take root at the Sununu Youth Services Center, charging that her budget cuts weakened the office of the official who oversees children in state care and that the Republican-led investigation now underway has been compromised before it begins.
Warmington spoke at a press conference in front of the New Hampshire State House on the heels of fresh reports of mistreatment of children at the facility, formerly known as the Youth Development Center, where decades of sexual, physical, and psychological abuse have already produced thousands of victim claims against the state.
The Office of the Child Advocate’s April 9 report found that staff broke a child’s bone while performing an illegal restraint that was caught on facility security cameras, and that children at the center had been held in lockdown for more than a month without adequate education or outdoor time. Two weeks later, the Disability Rights Center–New Hampshire issued its own findings describing a new staff practice of escalating to prone restraint when children refuse to be physically guided.
Warmington, joined by two Democratic lawmakers at the press conference, highlighted that additional allegations have since surfaced in media reports, including a story of a child being denied drinking water as leverage to move him to a unit he said he did not feel safe in, and children being strip-searched upon intake.
“Kelly Ayotte couldn’t even keep 15 kids safe,” Warmington said, noting that the population at the facility has dropped to 14 after the child with the broken bone was removed in recent weeks. “How can we expect her to protect the children in state custody? We can’t.”
Warmington was joined by State Sen. Pat Long (D-Manchester) and State Rep. Mary Jane Wallner (D-Concord), and the trio argued that the new allegations are a direct consequence of Ayotte’s first budget, which cut the Office of the Child Advocate’s staff roughly in half despite warnings from former child advocates and child welfare advocates.
Among the eliminated positions, they said, was the sole employee responsible for reviewing incident reports of restraints and seclusions filed by Sununu Center staff. Child Advocate Cassandra Sanchez had warned publicly that her office would no longer be able to keep up with incident reports if the cuts went through. After a contentious search for her replacement, Sanchez remains in the job on holdover status.
Ayotte’s pick to replace her, Diana Fenton, withdrew in March amid questions about conflicts of interest.
Warmington said Sanchez told her the broken bone incident would normally have been flagged within one to two weeks; instead, it went unreviewed for at least six weeks due to lack of staffing capacity.
Warmington also took aim at the composition of the Senate committee now investigating conditions at the center, which is chaired by Republican Sen. Victoria Sullivan. Warmington noted that Sullivan herself has previously called for defunding the Office of the Child Advocate.
Granite Post reported that Sullivan told NHPR last year she would only support restoring the office’s funding if it adopted “a more narrow focus,” dismissing its advocacy for LGBTQ+ youth as a “distraction.”
“It is concerning that the person they appointed to lead that committee is someone who called for the defunding of the Office of Child Advocate,” Warmington said.
Her criticism extended to the settlement process for past YDC victims. Warmington said Ayotte’s initial budget contained no money for the settlement fund. Republicans in the Legislature later restored $20 million for fiscal year 2026, a fraction of the $75 million per year through 2032 her predecessor had pledged.
Ayotte’s administration also allegedly directed the legislature to remove former New Hampshire Supreme Court Chief Justice John Broderick as settlement administrator, according to Broderick. He said the Legislature “took my job away” and later told InDepthNH that Ayotte was behind the changes and replaced him with a political appointee.
The 2025 Republican state budget also gave the New Hampshire attorney general unilateral authority to veto settlement offers, an authority victims’ lawyers say state Attorney General John Formella has used to reject roughly 20% of damage awards Broderick had approved. Wallner said Formella has rejected deals Broderick had finalized, and Warmington said more than 100 cases ready for settlement are now stalled. The state is currently facing more than 1,500 pending claims that plaintiffs estimate could be worth $1.8 billion.
Sen. Long, who said he was raised at St. Peter’s Orphanage in Manchester, framed the issue in personal terms.
“I know what it’s like to wonder if any of the adults in the room are looking out for my best interest,” he said. “These children at the Sununu Center, they’re wondering the same thing right now.”
Warmington said that as governor, she would restore funding to the Office of the Child Advocate and the Division for Children, Youth and Families, accelerate development of a replacement facility in Hampstead, mandate trauma-informed care training for staff, and close the Sununu Center.
The Sununu Center has been at the heart of New Hampshire’s largest-ever institutional-abuse scandal, with more than 1,500 former residents alleging sexual, physical, and psychological abuse spanning decades.
Ayotte served as state attorney general from 2004 to 2009, a period covered by many of the claims, and her handling of YDC complaints has been questioned by victims and political opponents alike.
