LEBANON — A supervised visitation center in downtown Lebanon operated by the nonprofit Waypoint has closed to New Hampshire families due to a lack of funding.
The closing leaves the state with just two such centers, in Boscawen and Dover, and leaves New Hampshire families without a safe place for children to visit with their non-custodial parent in the Upper Valley. The families that use the center, about 10 from New Hampshire and 11 from Vermont at any one time, often have been affected by domestic violence, mental illness or sexual assault.
“New Hampshire is the only state in the country in which supervised visitation centers are not state-funded,” said Borja Alvarez de Toledo, CEO of Waypoint, in a news release. “To rely solely on funding from private philanthropy is just not sustainable.”
The Manchester-based organization, which changed its name from Child and Family Services in 2018, says it costs $150,000 annually to operate the Lebanon center. Funding was included in the budget Gov. Chris Sununu signed last year, but had not yet been allocated before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“The Department of Health and Human Services was in the process reviewing applications from applicants to receive this funding but given the COVID-pandemic the Department has paused consideration of these applications at this time,” Sununu spokesman Benjamin Vihstadt said in a Friday email.
Among those lobbying for the funds to be distributed is state Rep. Sharon Nordgren, D-Hanover. Nordgren, who sits on the House committee that deals with finances related to health and social services, said she’s concerned about families who were struggling even before the pandemic.
“This is the population that needs this service more than ever,” Nordgren said. “We don’t even know how many at-risk families are out there.”
The center remains open to Vermont families, for now via Zoom Pro, because Vermont supports it with $40,000 annually.
That funding comes from a mix of federal and state money provided through the Vermont Department for Children and Families and the Center for Crime Victim Services, said Nancy Williams, who oversees the state’s family services agreement with Waypoint and the supervised visitation program across the state, which includes 11 centers.
Maintaining a connection with their children through supervised visitation can “can make such a huge difference” for non-custodial parents who are often “trying to get their act back together for whatever reason separated them in the first place,” Williams said.
The visits also are important to the children, who may not understand why they have been separated from their parent, she said. Supervised visitation can be a bridge to reunification or to non-supervised, less formal visits, Williams said.
“If we didn’t have it, it would definitely create a disconnect for families,” she said. “I’m not sure how kids would actually be able to spend time with their parent.”
The Lebanon center’s director, Jeannette Birge, recently had to lay off her single employee and is now supervising the visits for Vermont families via Zoom Pro, she said. In early April, she began notifying New Hampshire families that she would no longer be able to serve them.
“This was like a perfect storm,” Birge said. “The funding didn’t come and then the COVID (pandemic) hit.”
The center has been located in the former location of the Upper Valley Music Center on Hanover Street for a couple of years. It was previously located in West Lebanon.
It has two visitation rooms, a bathroom, toys, a DVD player, a fridge and a microwave. Families arrive at set times, staggered so that the custodial parent or guardian dropping off has no contact with the other parent arriving to visit with the child or children. They visit for anywhere from an hour to three, usually once or twice a week, Birge said.
“It just depends on the family,” Birge said.
In addition to having a Waypoint staffer monitor the visits, they are video and audio recorded. The center also has a contract with the Lebanon Police Department to ensure everyone’s safety, Birge said.
As a result of the end of the service for New Hampshire families, those in need of the service in the Upper Valley will have to meet in public places like libraries or store parking lots, which Birge said can put children or the custodial parent at risk.
The risks of such visits can be serious. A man shot and killed his 9-year-old son and then himself during a supervised visit at the YWCA in Manchester in 2013.
“That’s the kind of thing we can’t have happen again,” Nordgren said of the shooting.
And during the pandemic when public spaces aren’t available, Birge said she worries that families aren’t able to get together at all.
“Our New Hampshire families are really devastated by this,” Birge said in the release. “I fear that with more families under more stress than ever, the void of this service in the Upper Valley will leave many children in peril.”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
