Children's Law Center of New Hampshire - CLC NH

08/27/2026

At CLC-NH, we believe that protecting and advancing children’s rights promotes better outcomes for at-risk children and youth—and that emphasizing children’s needs and voices in child welfare processes leads to better-informed decisions and more responsive systems.

That’s why we’re pleased to share Know Your Rights in Foster Care, a new guide designed to help children understand their rights and advocate for themselves while they are living in out-of-home placement.

The digital KYR guide is available on our website: https://www.clc-nh.org/news/know-your-rights-in-foster-care. If you’re a nonprofit working with foster children and would like printed, bound copies of the guide to share with youth, please email [email protected].

Photo of Illustration by Cameron Lawrence

08/20/2026

From the individual child welfare cases in which we represent children to the work we do for systemic reform, laws matter—but are often ignored.

In the Union Leader and on NH Public Radio, CLC-NH executive director Lisa Wolford talks about why the NH Attorney General’s July 7 report on the harmful dysfunction at the state’s juvenile detention facility misses the mark.

Both articles are available to read in the latest CLC NH News Page post

From the individual child welfare cases in which we represent children to the work we do for systemic reform, laws matter—but are often ignored. In the Union Leader and on NH Public Radio, CLC-NH executive director Lisa Wolford talks about why the NH Attorney General’s July 7 report on the harmf...

07/17/2026

Our Executive Director, Lisa Wolford, wrote an Op-Ed in the Union Leader “Lisa Wolford: AG’s SYSC report doesn’t prove what it claims.”

Lisa’s op-ed explains why she believes the sweeping legal conclusion in the AG's report that SYSC is "operating within legal boundaries" is not supported by its own analysis.

Public confidence in government investigations depends on the rigor of their legal reasoning—no more so than when the rights, well-being, and futures of at-risk youth are at stake.

The full op-ed is linked here:

As a former assistant attorney general and a chief of the attorney general’s criminal bureau, I participated in, supervised and reported out on several complex investigations at the New Hampshire

07/17/2026

Our Children’s Rights Attorney Holly Rogers contributed to the National Foster Siblings Rights Project.

The National Network for Fostering Sibling Connections (NNFSC) was founded to answer the question siblings in foster care have been asking for decades: Why doesn't anyone fight for us to stay together?

Sibling relationships are often the longest-lasting relationships in a child’s life, yet siblings are frequently separated when children enter foster care. Because of this, state and federal laws recognize the importance of protecting sibling connections.

To understand these protections nationwide, the American Bar Association, working with NNFSC, asked the Children’s Law Center of New Hampshire to research and compile New Hampshire law and policy related to sibling connections.
Holly Rogers dug in.

For more about the NNFSC Foster Sibling Rights project and to view Holly’s work on sibling connection law and policy in New Hampshire, visit the article linked here:
https://www.fosteringsiblingconnections.org/law-education-project

07/06/2026

We are beyond proud to announce that we’ve hired a second Children’s Rights Attorney. Anna Lowman joins us from the New Hampshire Public Defender, where she represented hundreds of marginalized clients facing significant deprivations of liberty. A lifelong New Hampshire resident, Anna is a skilled litigator who is committed to advocating for the rights of New Hampshire’s at-risk children.

Thank you to our generous donors, who support our vision for better outcomes for at-risk children though holistic interdisciplinary legal representation, education and training, and pragmatic systemic reform.

To learn more about the foundations, law firms, corporations, and individuals who support our works, please visit our funders page, here: https://www.clc-nh.org/our-funders.

05/12/2026

In November 2025, CLC-NH was honored to join the Seacoast Women's Giving Circle 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.”

05/10/2026

Our executive director was profiled in the March 2026 issue of New Hampshire Bar News!

In 'Lisa Wolford: A Career Shaped by Purpose, Perspective, and Advocacy,' Bar News Executive Editor Tom Jarvis writes:

“For Children’s Law Center Founder and Executive Director Lisa Wolford, the law has never been just a profession – it is a vehicle for reducing suffering, expanding justice, and giving voice to those too often unheard. Across a career spanning criminal defense, prosecution, and child advocacy, Wolford has pursued a consistent goal: to use the law in services of those who need it most.”

Find the link to read the full article on our website’s News page below.

Our executive director was profiled in the March 2026 issue of New Hampshire Bar News! In  Lisa Wolford: A Career Shaped by Purpose, Perspective, and Advocacy , Bar News Executive Editor Tom Jarvis writes:  “For Children’s Law Center Founder and Executive Director Lisa W

05/06/2026

Check out the New Hampshire Center for Justice & Equity blog article authored by Carlota Morgado de Almeida, "Rethinking Child Welfare: The Children's Law Center of New Hampshire."

“Has anyone asked if the family can pay rent? If they have food? If they can access transportation?” Wolford stated. “It’s nearly impossible to comply with these types of court orders if you’re struggling to meet your family’s basic needs.”

The central structural challenge is that courts are being asked to solve problems they are not designed to address. “We’ve created a system where we funnel families into court to address problems that courts are not equipped to fix,” Wolford highlighted. “The American legal system is set up to adjudicate legal disputes, not to solve poverty, household dysfunction, or trauma.”

New Hampshire’s child welfare system often punishes poverty and trauma. The Children’s Law Center is advancing reforms centered on support, prevention, and equity.

04/30/2026

Thank you to Rath, Young and Pignatelli, P.C. for their generous support. As a legal services nonprofit dedicated to the equitable, trauma-responsive treatment of foster and other at-risk children across child welfare and school settings, the Children's Law Center of New Hampshire is proud to be supported by a law firm that shares our commitment to equity and justice for vulnerable children and families.

04/28/2026

On the Collaborate and Listen Podcast, Our executive director talked to Ben Van Camp of the The Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth 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 on Spotify or Apple Podcasts! https://open.spotify.com/episode/5TKDomRO9nM7GhGJTtZhmR

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/collaborate-listen/id1753725894

Non-Profit Podcast · Welcome to Collaborate & Listen, the new podcast from the Chamber Collaborative of Greater Portsmouth which celebrates the stories of our members.