Advocacy
Our advocacy team works at the legislative level to shape laws and public policies that advance the best interests of children. Since 1971, we have worked with other advocates – including teachers, lawyers, doctors, social service professionals, and others – as a collective now known as the NH Children’s Lobby.
About Us
The Waypoint advocacy program is dedicated to improving the lives of children and families through legislative, judicial and public policy initiatives. Always at the forefront of social service and social justice, the impact of Waypoint’s advocacy work can be felt over generations.
Some of the ways we have helped create a more humane world for NH kids:
- Revised child abuse and neglect laws
- Co-wrote the guardianship of minors law
- Collaborated with other stakeholders in a campaign that resulted in historic investments in New Hampshire’s early childhood education system
- Worked with a coalition to obtain a $135 million increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates (as of January 1, 2024) to support Waypoint’s Choices for Independence program
- Promoted day care licensing
- Evolved a restorative juvenile justice model
- Revised action settlement laws to ensure availability and stability of critical services to children
- Guided every change in adoption laws since the laws were written.
- Championed CHINS (Children in Need of Services)
- Worked with coalition to raise the age of majority in NH to 18
- Worked to enact legislation to eliminate the use of corporal punishment in residential and educational facilities
- Coordinated a statewide effort to preserve funding for programs to improve birth outcomes for at-risk babies
- Prioritized the best interests of children in divorce and child protection cases
- Beat back legislation that would have impeded child abuse and neglect investigations
- Championed the continued availability of Medicaid, ensuring coverage for nearly 60,000 individuals
- Prompted the new Office of Child Advocate to oversee and improve state's child protection system the public
- Collaborated with stakeholders to close the Sununu Youth Services Center and replace it with a trauma-informed, evidence-based therapeutic treatment center for NH’s detained and committed youth
Voice for Children
In 1986, Waypoint (then Child and Family Services) established the Voice for Children award, an honor to recognize a New Hampshire citizen or group who has shown an outstanding commitment to – and made a tremendous difference in – the lives of children and families. Upon the retirement of long-time agency advocate, Jack Lightfoot, the agency renamed it the Jack Lightfoot Voice for Children Award. Our most recent honoree is:
2025: Dr. Moira O’Neill, the first NH Child Advocate
Emily Lawrence
Advocacy Director
After 10 years as a law clerk with New Hampshire Superior and Supreme Courts, Emily became the first Associate Child Advocate and legal counsel with the State of New Hampshire Office of Child Advocate. Emily holds a J.D. from New England Law and a B.A. in psychology with a concentration in child development from Barnard College.
Liz Belsito
Early Childhood Education Project Coordinator
Liz has an extensive background working to build capacity within early childhood systems. She formerly worked with the Granite United Way as Director of Early Childhood Initiatives.
Bianca L., Gentil, Ph.D
Advocacy Deputy Director
Bianca advances evidence-based policy and advocacy at Waypoint, drawing on more than a decade of cross-sector experience in economic policy and the social sciences. She collaborates with the Advocacy Team to design and champion solutions for children, youth, families, and caregivers across New Hampshire. Drawing on her anthropology doctorate, Bianca uses a human-systems lens to turn rigorous analysis and coalition insights into economically sustainable, real-world solutions.
NHCL Members
Joanne Linden
Stephen Langdon
- Retired
Brad Kuster
- Environmental Law Attorney
Elliott Berry
- Former Managing Attorney and Director for New Hampshire Legal Assistance’s Housing Justice Project
Bill Conrad
- Retired
You Should Know
Your Legislators
Raise your voice or your pen on behalf of kids in NH by letting your legislators know what you think!