Governor Ayotte names former police chief as acting N.H. child advocate amid debate over independent watchdog

Amid reports of pervasive dysfunction at a state-run youth detention facility, Governor Kelly Ayotte announced Friday she will nominate Allen D. Aldenberg, the former police chief of Manchester, N.H., to temporarily helm the New Hampshire Office of the Child Advocate.

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Ayotte’s announcement didn’t mention outgoing Child Advocate Cassandra Sanchez, who was serving her last day in the position on Friday, after Ayotte opted not to reappoint her to another term.

Sanchez, who had been preparing for one of her deputies to fill in on an interim basis, said she only just learned Friday afternoon that Aldenberg would be nominated for the short-term job.

“I think it is unfortunate,” Sanchez said, “that the governor was not willing to entrust staff in the office, who have been living by the mission and vision of the office for years, to lead as acting until a long term appointee could be identified.”

Ayotte’s announcement said Aldenberg would, if confirmed, serve as a temporary department head for 90 days while the search for a permanent child advocate continues.

The state law that established the child advocate position says, in the event of a vacancy, “an assistant child advocate shall serve as the acting child advocate” until the governor and executive council appoint someone for the job.

That provision “does not apply” in this situation, a spokesperson for Ayotte’s office said Friday.

The spokesperson cited a more general provision that authorizes the governor to name a temporary department head due to a leader’s “temporary inability” to perform their duties.

Christopher G. Bond, an associate attorney general, said Aldenberg’s appointment as a temporary department head means “there would be no vacancy” in the child advocate’s position, so nothing would trigger the provision that says an assistant child advocate “shall” step in.

Two people, Jason Taylor and Jennifer Jones, have been serving as assistant child advocates. Ayotte’s announcement didn’t mention either of them. Efforts to reach them for comment were not immediately successful.

Sanchez, who was originally appointed in 2022 by then-governor Chris Sununu, had been serving in “holdover” status since her four-year term ended in January. Ayotte initially nominated Diana Fenton to replace Sanchez, but Fenton withdrew from consideration in March after facing backlash.

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Sanchez went public in April with concerns about alleged abuse and neglect at the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. That spurred an investigation by the attorney general’s office, which released a 56-page report in early July concluding the facility has been operating with “a high degree of dysfunction at all levels.”

Sanchez told The Boston Globe earlier this month that it’s appropriate for the state to ask the attorney general to provide such insight, but that report isn’t “independent” in the way that her office is. She said her office would keep conducting its own investigation and release a report, after her departure, with findings that may be “quite different” from those released by the attorney general.

Sanchez told New Hampshire Public Radio earlier this week that the attorney general’s office had said an assistant child advocate wouldn’t be elevated to fill her vacant position. Her team was told to bring issues to the attorney general’s office in her absence, but she advised against doing so, she said.

Lawmakers established the child advocate’s office in 2017 to improve oversight of New Hampshire’s troubled child welfare system, then expanded its role in 2020 to investigate complaints about the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families and to recommend systemic improvements.

Sanchez said her office adjusted the scope of its oversight work in light of budget cuts that took effect just over a year ago, when four of the office’s nine jobs were eliminated. Without a full-time advocate at the helm, the office may have to cut back even further, she said.

Meanwhile, questions linger about safety concerns at the Sununu Youth Services Center, where State Police troopers have been stationed for the past month to help address staffing shortages and where one child detainee recently attacked another, causing serious injuries.

In any event, Ayotte said Aldenberg is well-equipped to lead in this capacity, calling him “an outstanding public servant” who “will be a steadfast leader for the Office of the Child Advocate during this period of transition.”

Ayotte noted that Aldenberg, who holds the rank of brigadier general in the New Hampshire Army National Guard, “saw firsthand what happens when systems fail to protect children.”

Aldenberg was the police chief in Manchester during the investigation into the death of 5-year-old Harmony Montgomery, a case that spurred calls for reform to the child welfare agencies in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

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