HB 1095 — Child Protective Services and School District Child Safety Liaison Work Group (North Dakota)
Status: Filed with Secretary of State (Apr 16, 2025). Introduced: Nov 12, 2024. Passed both chambers (House and Senate votes recorded) and transmitted to the Governor.
Purpose
- Establish a formal, recurring forum for coordination between school districts and human service zones on child safety, child protective services (CPS) roles, and service coordination for children and families.
Key provisions
- New statutory section added to chapter 15.1‑07 of the North Dakota Century Code creating a “child safety liaison work group.”
- Definitions: “child protective services” is defined by reference to section 50‑25.1‑02 (i.e., an “authorized agent” or the “department”).
- Formation: A school district and its corresponding human service zone may each designate representatives to form the work group.
- Focus areas: The work group must concentrate on:
- Roles and responsibilities of CPS and mandatory reporters;
- Opportunities to improve relations between the human service zone and the school district; and
- Coordination of services for children and families.
- Composition: Membership must be proportional to the need and population served, and include an equal number of representatives from the school district and the human service zone.
- Meetings: The work group must meet at least twice annually.
- Reporting: By July 31 each year the work group must report to the human service zone board, the school board, and the Children’s Cabinet. Reports must include recommendations, proposed solutions, progress updates, training needs, and identified service‑coordination gaps.
- Administration: The human service zone is responsible for coordinating work group meetings.
Who is affected
- School districts and school boards (required/optional participation in forming work groups and providing representatives).
- Human service zones and their boards (coordinating role, representation).
- Child Protective Services (defined participant/partner; subject of coordination and reporting).
- Children and families served by CPS and schools — intended beneficiaries through improved coordination and service delivery.
- The Children’s Cabinet — receives the annual report and recommendations.
Implementation and timeline
- Work groups may be formed once the statute is in effect; the statute requires at least two meetings per year and an annual report each July 31.
- The human service zone coordinates meetings and reporting.
- Earlier drafts of the measure included language creating a designated CPS liaison position within school districts with CPS‑provided training; the enacted language instead emphasizes a collaborative work group model.
Potential impact
- Aims to improve information‑sharing, clarify roles between schools and CPS, identify service gaps and training needs, and streamline coordination for student/family supports.
- Administrative workload for human service zones and participating school districts to convene meetings and prepare annual reports; no appropriation or new funding mechanism is specified in the enacted text.
