Fargo‑Moorhead crisis center urges earlier, trauma‑informed school prevention; warns against late‑only trafficking education

Christopher Johnson, chief executive of the Fargo‑Moorhead crisis center, told the Protection and Vict Services Committee that his agency expanded prevention education after pandemic shifts and is preparing a major program expansion in 2026. He described a comprehensive mix of services—24‑hour crisis line, advocacy, free counseling, supervised parenting‑time and offender programs—and presented service counts and trends from his center.

Johnson and prevention‑education supervisor Kirsten Baltasor described the Red Flag/Green Flag curricula, which the presenters said reached 58 schools in the last year and includes 25 age‑tiered modules from kindergarten through high school. "The four main areas" Baltasor said, "are body ownership, personal safety, a range of helpers, and an assertive response—say no, get away, tell a helper." She described classroom practice (age‑appropriate examples, identifying trusted adults, private‑parts guidance and online‑safety rules) and said the program aligns with North Dakota Department of Public Instruction standards.

Members raised concerns about how concepts such as "body ownership" would interact with parental authority and cultural values. Johnson replied that the curriculum emphasizes safety and helping children name trusted adults; he said the program is not an ideological curriculum but focused on preventing abuse. A legislator described classroom disclosures traced back to this and similar curricula, which presenters said leads to referrals and support through existing systems.

Johnson recommended shifting the policy emphasis upstream: rather than centering human‑trafficking education in middle and high school, he urged adoption of prevention curricula for younger children because the same protective factors address trafficking, exploitation and abuse. He cautioned that sensationalized trafficking materials can retraumatize victims and may miss grooming and manipulation that occur earlier.

Johnson told the committee his center responded to 176 sexual‑assault victims who presented to emergency departments in the last year and that the center dispatches advocates under SART (Sexual Assault Response Team) protocols to coordinate care and evidence collection. He thanked the committee for recent state funding increases for victim‑services agencies and asked continued support to embed prevention and trauma‑informed approaches statewide.

The committee recessed for lunch and scheduled further discussion at 02:20.