For decades, children in New Hampshire’s care were subjected to horrific abuse—sexual assaults, beatings, and psychological torment in state-run youth detention centers. Over 1,500 survivors came forward to tell their stories. In response, the state finally promised a pathway to justice: a victim compensation fund that would offer healing without the pain of drawn-out court battles.

Now, New Hampshire is trying to take that promise back.

Facing a fiscal downturn, state leaders have quietly rewritten the rules of the settlement fund. They’ve stripped independence from the administrator, inserted political veto power over payouts, and—most damning of all—Governor Kelly Ayotte’s new budget includes no money for the fund at all.

Survivors like Corrine Moon came forward, risked public shame, and chose the state-run fund to avoid retraumatizing trials. They were told they could finally move forward. But now the same state that failed to protect them as children is moving to deny them justice as adults.

This is not about politics. It’s about promises made to those who were deeply harmed by the very institutions meant to protect them. These survivors were silenced once before. They should not be betrayed again.

We are calling on Governor Ayotte and New Hampshire lawmakers to immediately:

• Reinstate full, independent authority to the settlement fund administrator
• Restore the $75 million commitment made in the previous budget
• Publicly commit to honoring every survivor’s claim in good faith

Anything less is a moral failure—and a broken promise to some of the most vulnerable people the state was ever entrusted to care for.

The survivors have waited long enough. The time to honor New Hampshire’s word is now.

Add your name if you believe justice delayed should not be justice denied.

Charles Krupa/Associated Press