REMINDER: Ayotte’s Sununu Youth Services Center Staffing Crisis Drags On

REMINDER: Ayotte’s Sununu Youth Services Center Staffing Crisis Drags On
 

Kelly Ayotte continues to scramble to address staffing shortages at the Sununu Youth Services Center (SYSC) and failed to take immediate action to address alleged abuse inside the facility. Months later, her administration is still struggling with critical staffing shortages and staff retention, which “directly impact the youth served at the SYSC.” 

Ayotte’s administration conducted “an exhaustive investigation” into the “violent incidents,” yet supposedly found no “evidence of physical abuse of youth by staff.” However, multiple independent reports continue to emerge that children have suffered from injuries like a “broken femur,” and were reportedly being “confined in their rooms for so long” that they’ve been forced to “urinate on the floor.”

According to Cassandra Sanchez, the state’s former independent watchdog, Ayotte’s administration is “failing our state’s children” and sees no “support for change” despite the catastrophe that continues to unfold at SYSC. Ayotte ignored repeated warning signs from the independent watchdog about the dangers of slashing its staff capacity by nearly half and has “not engaged” with the Office of the Child Advocate since being elected.