Waypoint’s Advocacy Team works to ensure all children, youth, and families in New Hampshire have the opportunity to thrive – whether it’s a young person aging out of foster care, a new mother seeking support, a senior needing access to care and independence, or a family in crisis – Waypoint’s mission is truly to provide help along the way. Over the 2025 legislative session, our priorities reflected the urgent needs we hear from the communities we serve every day.
Our focus ranged from securing funding for our emergency shelter for youth and young adults, to defending health care access, supporting new parents, and protecting vulnerable children. Here’s a closer look at what we fought for, and why.
Securing Funding for those Experiencing Homelessness
Homelessness is a growing crisis in New Hampshire, yet resources remain limited. Waypoint operates the state’s first and only low barrier emergency shelter for young people ages 18–24. For most, it’s not just a bed – it’s a first step toward stability and a brighter future. Reliable support, it risked closure – leaving youth vulnerable to chronic homelessness, trafficking, or unsafe living situations. That’s why we prioritized securing ongoing funding. Waypoint’s strong advocacy increased State support for services and shelters for those experiencing homelessness.
Defending Medicaid from Cuts and Barriers
Medicaid is a lifeline for thousands of New Hampshire families. Medicaid covers essentials – medical care, medication, even diapers – and allows people to live safely at home with dignity., Forty percent of families in our home visiting and family resource programs rely on it, as do seniors and individuals with disabilities in our Choices for Independence program.
The evidence is clear: early investments pay off. Ninety percent of brain development occurs before age five, and every dollar spent on early intervention can return up to $17. Medicaid-funded services reduce child maltreatment, improve maternal health, and lower long-term costs. In short, Medicaid keeps families healthy and saves the state money.
This year, despite strong advocacy, work requirements and premiums were passed at both state and federal levels. This change will burden families or potentially make it impossible for individuals and families to access healthcare. We were able to successfully eliminate a proposed 3% reimbursement rate reduction that would have hurt providers. We continue working with partners, legislators, and state agencies to help families maintain coverage and protect their health.
Protecting Foster Youth SSI Benefits
Youth aging out of foster care face steep challenges – financial instability among the most pressing. Nationally, 23% of foster youth experience homelessness by age 21. Federal Supplemental Security Income benefits can mean the difference between stability and poverty.
For years, New Hampshire has used foster youths’ federal benefits to cover care costs the state already provides to all foster children in its care. We’ve been working to change that by advancing legislation requiring the state to conserve or invest these benefits to support youths’ disabilities, reunification, and transition into adulthood.
Protecting their benefits gives foster youth a fair chance at success.
Expanding the Right to Counsel for At-Risk Youth
Every child involved in an abuse or neglect case deserves a voice in the decisions that shape their life. In 2024, Waypoint and our partners successfully advocated for a new law requiring that children at risk of, or placed in, institutional facilities be provided with legal representation. This year, the Governor proposed delaying implementation by two years, but our concerted advocacy efforts reduced that delay to just six months. As a result, the law will now take effect on January 1, 2026.
Legal counsel ensures children’s wishes are heard in court, promotes more appropriate placements and services, and can reduce unnecessary institutionalization. This not only leads to better outcomes for children and families but also lowers state costs.
Supporting Moms and Children
The well-being of mothers and infants sets the stage for lifelong health. We championed legislation expanding maternal depression screenings and extending postpartum health care. Untreated maternal health issues affect both mother and child, while early detection prevents long-term challenges.
Extended coverage helps mothers address complications, stay healthy, and avoid having to choose between their health and financial stability.
Improving the Child Care Scholarship Program
Child care costs remain a major barrier for working families. Thanks to recent legislative wins, more families now qualify for the NH Child Care Scholarship Program (CCSP), which provides financial assistance to households earning below 85% of the state median income. For many, CCSP is the only way to secure quality child care while parents work.
While CCSP helps more than 5,000 families afford child care, enrollment remains far below the 55,000 children that UNH researchers estimate are eligible. Low enrollment is due in part to complex administrative requirements. Advocates successfully pushed for reforms last session to ease access, including reduced reporting requirements and, starting in January, a pilot program that offers preliminary screening so families can enroll children quickly while completing the full application.
Why We Focus Here
Waypoint’s advocacy agenda reflects what we hear directly from children, youth, and families. Every day we see people start with very little and go on to achieve extraordinary things – finishing school, building careers, creating healthy routines, and living with dignity.
None of this is possible without dedicated service providers and strong policies. By securing resources, protecting care, and strengthening safeguards, we move closer to a New Hampshire where no child is left without support, no parent without care, and no family without hope.