Rosemarie Rung thinks of Elijah Lewis often. 

He had big ears and was young enough to still have all of his baby teeth. He lived in Merrimack, which Rung represents in the State House. 

Lewis was 5 years old when his mom killed him and later dumped his malnourished body in the woods. Last fall, she was sentenced to more than 50 years to life in prison. 

The state Office of the Child Advocate was designed to respond to cases like what happened to Lewis to see if the state could have done more to protect him before his death and recommend changes to boost child protection, said Rung. Still, House lawmakers voted to eliminate the independent oversight office in their version of the budget. 

“It’s not a hypothetical, but real to those of us in Merrimack who were left stunned and grief-stricken,” she said. “The Office of the Child Advocate was created to prevent tragedies like these.” 

The Office of the Child Advocate was created in 2018 as an independent watchdog agency for children’s services. To Rep. Dan McGuire, an Epsom Republican, its function is “duplicative” and therefore unnecessary in a tight budget year. 

McGuire views the office, led by Cassandra Sanchez, as having two primary functions: to weigh in on legislation and provide oversight to the Division of Youth, Children and Families. 

“We don’t need to hire people to do that,” he said. “If DCYF is poorly run, the solution is not to create yet another agency, but it is to fix and change the leadership of DCYF.”

Democrats attempted to reinstate the office with two separate proposals – through their “better budget” amendment that included an overarching counter to the Republican-backed budget and in another amendment from Rep. Peter Petrigno, a Milford Democrat, that focused specifically on reinstating the office. 

Both amendments failed, despite some Republican lawmakers supporting Petrigno’s proposal. 

The budget will next head to the Senate, led by President Sharon Carson, a Londonderry Republican, who supported the creation of the office after several children were killed by their parents despite documented abuse that state child protection workers knew about. 

Gov. Kelly Ayotte has also been a vocal supporter of the office – including it in her budget proposal – and said she will work with Carson to ensure that the position is included in the spending bill that lands on her desk . 

McGuire’s initial justification for removing the office was cost savings. As one of three House Finance Committee chairs, he needed to cut $200 million from state spending, he said. The Office of the Child Advocate would save the state $2.2 million over the next two years. 

However, on the House floor this week, McGuire suggested that Sanchez’ performance, rather than the need to penny-pinch, was the source of the cut. 

“The Office of the Child Advocate has interfered with, rather than assisted, needed legislation to reform child abuse and child welfare laws,” he said. 

This was the first critique Sanchez had heard of her work, she said. 

“Our only role in the legislature has ever been to protect the best interests of children and to support legislation that does that,” she said. “It is very concerning to me that someone could throw out a wild accusation like that that truly attacks the credibility of our office and the work that we do, without any evidence of what he is speaking on.”

While legislation is a key focus of Sanchez’ office, and they have one dedicated staff member who tracks policy, their work also includes reviewing all restraint and seclusion reports, visiting children in residential facilities across the country and conducting a full case review for all child fatalities.

Ahead of the House vote, Sanchez said she reached out to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. She was aware that Democrats were putting forth a proposal to reinstate her office but never heard back from Republican lawmakers, to whom she offered more information about their work. 

She also has yet to talk to Carson or Ayotte, despite reaching out to both. 

New Hampshire was the 13th state to institute such an ombudsman position. Now, there are 33 similar entities nationwide. 

To Petringo, creating the office was one positive step forward for child protection. Now, the Granite State is heading in the opposite direction. 

And New Hampshire, of all places, should know the critical juncture of this office, he said. Despite being a small state, high-profile deaths like Elijah Lewis, have made na tional headlines too many times. 

“Everyone in the state knows what I am talking about,” he said. “It’s nothing to be proud of.”