NH Gov. says Harmony Montgomery’s case underscores need for better interstate communication

New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu says as The Department of Youth, Children and Families {DCYF} is working through the internal review of its handling of the Harmony Montgomery case with the state Attorney General to determine what they’ll be able to make public.

During a news conference in Concord on Wednesday, Sununu said some things will likely have to remain confidential, but he thinks there will be an opportunity to examine any potential failures and fix them. “We can talk publicly about as much else as we possibly can in the hopes that information can hopefully bring Harmony home safely. That’s the ultimate goal here,” Sununu said. “As well as making sure if there were system failures here, which clearly we can all agree there were here at some level, where they are, what we can do and what mitigation strategies.”

Investigators believe Harmony Montgomery, who would now be 7 years old, was last seen in early December 2019. Her disappearance wasn’t reported for two years, a daunting timeline for investigators to tackle.

Sununu said he senses in the next ‘week or so’ more information will come to light about the agency’s [DYCF} involvement with the young girl and her family.

25 Investigates revealed that police were called to the Manchester home where Harmony lived with her father, Adam Montgomery, and his now-estranged wife Kayla and their children, 13 times in a 5 month period in 2019. On at least two of those occasions, DCYF social workers were called to the home as well.

25 Investigates also revealed Harmony was in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Family {DCF} before the court granted custody to Adam Montgomery, a man with a long history of violent crime.

When Harmony left Massachusetts, her case was closed. 25 Investigates broke the story that there was never a home study conducted on where she’d living or with whom, nor was there an interstate compact in place that would have enacted safeguards to check in on her.

Sununu said he thinks interstate communication, or lack thereof, is at the center of this sad story. “My gut tells me right now that the biggest break in this system wasn’t just about Massachusetts or just about New Hampshire. It’s really about the transfer of information across states, and not just our two states, any two states. When you look at how that information is processed, how it’s transferred, getting and utilizing it in real-time to make sure you can be on the spot with it and that there aren’t delays, how those interstate compacts really work, the importance of them. That’s for me, at least upon a preliminary review, that’s clearly where the system had the most trouble,” he said.

Boston 25 News’ Kerry Kavanaugh asked Sununu if he’s satisfied with the response he’s received so far from the Massachusetts trial court to his questioning of the decision to place Harmony with her father.

“I believe the only response I received from Massachusetts trial courts is ‘we’ll look into it,’” Sununu said. “And, I’m satisfied that they obviously want to be a constructive partner and try to dig in, look at the data and issues related in and around this case that ultimately resulted in Harmony being placed with that individual by the court, which I think that everyone can agree was a horrible, horrible mistake.”

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