North Dakota task force urges statewide child abuse prevention network, resource guide and grooming bill draft

A legislative interim committee in Bismarck on Sept. 30 heard the final report from the North Dakota Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Task Force, which documented an eight-year review of services, a year-long Richland County pilot and a set of recommendations to expand prevention, training and data-sharing statewide.

The task force, led by Dr. Christopher Johnson, chief executive officer of the Abuse Crisis Center of Fargo-Moorhead, and Lindsay Burkhart, director of prevention initiatives at Families Flourish ND, told the committee that the work produced a statewide resource guide, a caregiver guide and pilot outcomes showing measurable improvements in protective factors for children.

"Over half of the respondents reported that they do not provide child sexual-abuse education to children, staff, or volunteers," Burkhart told the committee, summarizing an environmental scan that gathered more than 200 responses from schools, child-care providers and youth-serving organizations.

The Richland County pilot, funded with a $130,000 Otto Bremer Trust grant and implemented in 2022, provided multi-level prevention: classroom education for children, adult trainings, a public-awareness campaign and local data analysis. Task-force members said 387 children received prevention education during the year and 142 adults — school staff, law enforcement and community organizations — completed training. Pre/post surveys showed many children added a trusted adult to their safety network.

The task force recommended that the state sustain the prevention pillars it used during the study, embed a full-time child-prevention position in the Department of Health and Human Services to oversee grants and programming, and establish a statewide advisory committee that will meet regularly. "That was a tremendous win for all of us," Johnson said of placing a prevention position in state government, naming Kara as the new DHHS employee who will oversee the work.

The task force also described barriers to wider adoption of prevention education, including a lack of consistent curriculum, limited time and discomfort among adults discussing the topic. To address curriculum gaps, the group compiled the North Dakota Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Resource Guide and a caregiver-focused companion booklet to help parents and caregivers talk with children about safety and body autonomy.

On policy, the task force recommended further work on criminalizing grooming behaviors and provided a draft bill the authors intend to refine for potential introduction in 2027. "Research confirms that grooming is a near-universal tactic to facilitate abuse and silence victims," Burkhart said, citing peer-reviewed literature and the task force's research.

Committee members pressed staff on safeguards for early-childhood education and how schools obtain parent consent. Burkhart said the task force piloted two curricula in Richland County — the Abuse Crisis Center's Red Flag, Green Flag program and the Empower Me curriculum from the Jacob Wetterling Foundation — and emphasized that the programs emphasize body autonomy and identifying trusted adults rather than explicit sexual content.

The task force also urged policymakers to prioritize services for populations at elevated risk, including Native American youth, LGBTQ+ youth and families living in extreme poverty, and to continue integrating emerging research and best practices.

The report and resource guide were presented to the committee for consideration and to inform future legislation and budget recommendations.