NORTH DAKOTA

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WHO:        ANY person MAY report who has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is abused or neglected, or has died as a result of it.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-03(2)]             

These are mandatory (MUST report): • Dentists, optometrists, dental hygienists, medical examiners or coroners • Tier 1, 2, 3, or 4 mental health professionals (§ 25-01-01) • or any other medical or mental health professionals • Religious practitioners of the healing arts • Schoolteachers, administrators, or school counselors • Child care workers or foster parents • Police or law enforcement officers, juvenile court personnel, probation officers, or division of juvenile services employees • Licensed social workers, family service specialists, or child care licensors • Members of the clergy [for unprivileged communications]. •  Mental health professional tiers include: • Tier 1: licensed psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, or physician assistants, & advanced practice registered nurses. • Tier 2: licensed independent clinical social workers, professional clinical counselors, marriage & family therapists, addiction counselors, & registered nurses. • Tier 3: licensed associate professional counselors, master social workers, baccalaureate social workers, professional counselors, associate marriage & family therapists, occupational therapists, practical nurses, behavior analysts, vocational rehabilitation counselors, school psychologists, and human relations counselors. • Tier 4: direct care associates or technicians.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-03(1); 25-01-01(8)-(11)]

These are ALSO mandatory (MUST report): • persons who know of images of sexual conduct by a child discovered on a workplace computer.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-03(2)]

·       NOTE: The main professional mandate is limited to observations in an official or working capacity. The mandate for computers is limited to workplace computers.

·       STANDARD:  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-02(3); 50-25.1-03] Child means under age 18.

(1)   For a mandated reporter: in his/her official or professional capacity, knows of or has reasonable cause to suspect that a child is abused or neglected, or has died as a result of abuse or neglect.

(2)   For mandated workplace porn reports: knowledge of or reasonable cause to suspect that a child is abused or neglected, based on images of a child’s sexual conduct discovered on a workplace computer.

(3)   For any reporter, generally: reasonable cause to suspect a child is abused or neglected, or has died as a result of abuse or neglect.

·       PRIVILEGE:  Clergy-confession privilege applies (but only within clergy capacity as a spiritual advisor) and attorney-client privilege applies. Husband-wife privilege and other professional-patient/client privilege do NOT apply to prevent a report or exclude evidence from a related proceeding.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-03(1); 50-25.1-10]

WHEN:      For mandated reporters: (1) IMMEDIATE report (oral or in writing); AND (2) if requested by DHS for an oral mandated report, must follow up with a written report within 48 HOURS.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-04]

WHERE & HOW:  Report orally or in writing to the N.D. Dept. of Human Services (DHS) in the county where the child is. If DHS requests it, mandatory reporters must follow up with a written report within 48 hours with information requested by DHS if the reporter possess it or has reasonable access to it. “Written” means “typewritten” or “printed”.  This protocol also applies for reporting discovery of child porn on a workplace computer. [Cent. Code §§ 1-01-37; 50-25.1-04; 50-25.1-03(3)]

In the event of imminent danger to a child:    dial 911

A map and list with links to contact info for Human Service Zones (formerly known as county social service offices) is posted:

https://www.hhs.nd.gov/HSC

Form SFN 960 must be used if a written report is required: it is available at county social service offices and also posted:

 https://apps.nd.gov/itd/recmgmt/rm/stFrm/eforms/Doc/sfn00960.pdf.

Institutions: Provisions exist if an institution responsible for the child’s welfare has known or suspected child abuse or neglect, including at: a residential child care facility; a treatment or care center for individuals with intellectual disabilities; a public or private residential educational facility; a maternity home; or any residential facility owned or managed by the state or a political subdivision of it.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-02(10)] 

·       Reports of institutional abuse or neglect are made in the same way as for other reports.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-04]

·       Reports on institutions CAN be made to the regional supervisor of Child Protection Services at the Regional Human Service Center in the region where the facility is located.  Form SFN 960 MAY be used.  A map and links to contact info for these centers is posted.  https://www.hhs.nd.gov/HSC

Organization: Within the DHS is Children and Family Services (CFS), and within CFS is N.D. Child Protection Services (CPS).

OTHER ASPECTS

·       REPORT DETAILS: Requested written reports MUST include: information specifically sought by the department if the reporter possesses or has reasonable access to the information.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-04]  The face of form SFN 960 requests: (a) the child(ren)’s names, and age(s) or birthdate(s); (b) name, address, and phone number for the parent(s) or caretaker; (c) name, address, and phone number of the person suspected of causing maltreatment, if different; (d) specific nature and extent of suspected abuse or neglect, and any information on injury from previous abuse or neglect; (e) family composition (e.g., names, sex, ages of siblings and other adults normally present); (f) any other info that may help to protect the child(ren)’s health or welfare (including specifics of who, what, when, why, and how often); (g) the reporter’s name, address, and phone number (optional); and (h) reporter’s relationship to the child(ren) (and family).  [Form SFN 960]  Intake workers also ask for: (i) the child(ren)’s sex and permanent address; (j) child’s present location and the location where the reported concerns occurred if different from a permanent address; (k) action taken by the reporter; (l) reporter’s willingness to share with the family his/her role in reporting; (m) reporter’s willingness to participate in assessment, if appropriate; (n) reporter’s motives, if possible to evaluate; and (o) names of persons who may have information concerning the suspected abuse or neglect.  [ND Child Protection Services Manual at 640-01-05-01]  Other: Attach supporting documents to the report. Also, there is a series of detailed medical questions when reporting substance-abused newborns.

·       REPORTER PROTECTION: (1) The statute does NOT specifically require that a reporter provide his/her name in the report. (2) All reports are confidential; reporter / informant identities are protected when reports are made available to any caretaker or subject of the report.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-11(1),(1)(i)]  (3) Any reporter in good faith is immune from civil and criminal liability.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-09]

WHY:        (1) Willfully failing to make a mandated report is a class B misdemeanor. (2) Employer retaliation for a good faith report is a class B misdemeanor and civilly liable to the reporter. (3) Willfully false reports, or false info to cause reports, are class B misdemeanors, but false reports to a law enforcement official is a class A misdemeanor; all are civilly liable to the person reported.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-13; 50-25.1-09.1]  

WHAT:      In North Dakota, child abuse includes mental or bodily injury and sexual abuse. Child neglect includes lack of provision, illegal placement for care or adoption, abandonment, inability, non-participation in court-ordered treatment, prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs, drug environment, or human trafficking.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-02(3),(13)]   

Preliminary Screening Criteria (DHS): (a) whether the report involves a caregiver or non-caregiver [since law enforcement investigates non-caregiver cases]; and (b) urgency and need for law enforcement in 3 categories. Category A: death, severe physical injury, and sexual activity of any kind. Category B: burns, scalds, cuts, minor physical injury, intentional poisoning, excessive corporal punishment, malnutrition, abandonment, tying or close confinement, prenatal exposure to chronic and severe use of alcohol or any controlled substance, or their presence in the infant at birth. Category C: psychological maltreatment, inadequate shelter / clothing / supervision / nourishment / healthcare, educational neglect or other neglect.  [(ND) Child Protection Services Manual, Service Chapter 640, at 640-05-01-01; 640-05-10-01]

Reportable: (a) a parent, guardian, custodian, or other person responsible for the child's welfare for mental or bodily injury, sexual abuse, illegal placement for care or adoption; drug environment, or human trafficking; (b) a parent, guardian, or custodian for non-provision, illegal placement for care or adoption, abandonment, non-participation in court-ordered treatment, drug environment, or human trafficking; (c) the parent(s) specifically for inability due to illness or disability; (d) the birth mother implicitly for prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs; (e) anyone for sexual abuse of any kind, illegal placement for care or adoption, drug environment, or human trafficking.

·        NOTE: the statutes on neglect mention persons responsible for the child’s welfare only for specific types of harm.

·        Child means by birth or adoption.  [Cent. Code § 1-01-18]

·        Person responsible for the child's welfare means an individual responsible for care or supervision, who is any of: (a) his/her parent, adult family member, any household member, guardian, or foster parent; or (b) an employee or other person caring for him/her in, a public or private school or in child care.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-02(1)]

·        Guardian means a person legally empowered and with the duty to take care of a manage the property of a person who because of age, intellect, or health is incapable of managing his/her own affairs.  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-02]

·        Custodian means: (a) a person, other than a parent or legal guardian, who stands in loco parentis [has the role of parent] to the child; or (b) a person to whom legal custody of the child has been given by order of a court.  [Cent. Code § 27-20-02(5)]

Child Abuse includes any of:  [Cent. Code § 50-25.1-02(3)]

(A)     Mental or bodily injury:  [Cent. Code §§ 14-09-22(1),(2); 12.1-01-04(4),(27),(29)]

(1)     A PARENT, ADULT FAMILY OR HOUSEHOLD MEMBER, GUARDIAN, OR OTHER CUSTODIAN willfully inflicts or allows upon the child: (a) mental injury; (b) bodily injury; (c) substantial bodily injury; or (d) serious bodily injury.

(a)      Bodily injury means any physical impairment, including pain. DHS lists signs: bruising, welts, burns, bite marks, broken bones, or any injury that is (a) unexplained, (b) apparently inflicted, or (c) suspicious. A child with no obvious injury may report inflicted pain, or fear or flinch around a caregiver.

(b)      Substantial bodily injury is a substantial temporary: (a) disfigurement; (b) loss; or (c) impairment of function; for any bodily member or organ.

(c)      Serious bodily injury creates a substantial risk of: (a) death; (b) serious permanent disfigurement; (c) unconsciousness; (d) extreme pain; (e) permanently lost or impaired function for any bodily member or organ; (f) bone fracture; or (g) impeded flow of air or blood to the brain or lungs.

(d)      Mental injury is undefined.

                                                         (i)      DHS lists generic signs of psychological maltreatment: (a) intentionally or not, a caregiver rejects, isolates, threatens, ignores, and/or exposes a child to negative influences; (b) child’s emotional or behavioral problems; (c) caregiver’s substance abuse or mental illness; (d) extreme discipline; (e) close confinement (e.g., locked in closet); (f) excessive control of child; and (g) exposure to domestic violence. 

                                                        (ii)      DHS lists specific signs: (i) caregiver repeatedly blaming, belittling, or berating the child; (ii) child withdrawn, sad, or emotionally unattached to caregivers; (iii) domestic violence between caregivers; (iv) caregiver exposing child to porn or sexual acts; (iv) child fearful due to caregiver acts or inactions that threaten safety. 

(2)     OR SOMEONE ELSE does one of those things and at the time they: (a) are providing services for the child [e.g., care, supervision, education, or guidance]; (b) are paid for it [e.g., by money, goods, or services]; and (c) are unaccompanied by the child's parent, adult family or household member, guardian, or custodian.

(B)     Sexual abuse means that an individual (whether responsible for the child’s welfare or not) subjects the child to sexual abuse, including any of:  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-02(3); 12.1-20-01 to 12.1-20-07; 12.1-20-11 to 12.1-20-12.2; 12.1-27.2-01(4),(5)]

(1)     IMPOSITIONS, including any of: (a) gross sexual imposition (coercion, or helpless victim, or child under age 15), (b) continuous sexual abuse (three or more sexual acts or sexual contacts with a minor under age 15 during a period of 3 or more months), (c) sexual imposition (sexual act/contact that is either compelled or part of a street gang induction, hazing, ceremony, etc.), (d) corruption or solicitation (solicits to engage in a sexual act with a minor under age 15, or by an adult age at least 22 with a minor age 15, 16, or 17); (e) luring by computer or other electronic means (implicitly or explicitly discusses or depicts actual or simulated nudity, sexual acts, sexual contact, sadomasochistic abuse, or other sexual performances, where an adult invites someone s/he believes to be a minor to engage in any of those with him/her); (f) sexual abuse of wards (someone with supervisory or disciplinary authority engaging in a sexual act with a person under custody or detained in a hospital, prison, or other institution); (g) sexual exploitation by a therapist (therapist, counselor, medical professional, or clergy member intentionally has sexual contact, with a patient or client during any treatment, consultation, interview, or examination); or (h) sexual assault (having or causing offensive sexual contact while knowing that the victim: has a mental disease or defect; was deceptively drugged by the offender; is in official custody or detention; is a minor age 15, 16, or 17 and the other person is the parent, guardian, or otherwise responsible for the child; or is a minor age 15, 16, or 17 and the other person is an adult).

(2)     DEVIATE ACTS, including: (a) incest (sexual acts between parents and children including grandparents and grandchildren of every degree, or with any of the following, regardless of legitimacy, or half or whole blood: brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, or first cousins); (b) deviate sexual act (meaning, with an animal, bird, or corpse); (c) indecent exposure (in public or the presence of a minor, masturbation or exposing private parts below the waist; or such exposure by unsolicited electronic means or electronically to a minor); or (d) surreptitious intrusion (peeping on another’s property, tanning booth, hotel room, etc.; or installing a surreptitious monitor or recording device there); or

(3)     SEXUAL PERFORMANCES by children; i.e., any performance (knowingly or not) by a minor including actual or simulated: (a) intercourse; (b) sodomy; (c)  bestiality; (d) masturbation; (e) sadomasochistic abuse; (f) lewd exhibition of the buttocks, breasts, or genitals; (g) nude or partially denuded human figure for any viewer’s sexual stimulation or sexual gratification; or (h) physical contact with someone’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or breasts.

(4)     SIGNS include: (a) a child describing sexual touching by a parent, caregiver, or other person at home; or (b) unusual sexual knowledge or behavior for their age. 

(5)     CAVEAT: THE AGE OF CONSENT is 18. But a child age 15, 16, or 17 may have sex with someone who is less than 3 years older without penalty. Mistake of age is a defense as to age 18, but not as to age 15.  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-02(3); 12.1-20-01, -03(1)(d), -05(1), -07(1)(f)]

Neglect means a child is deprived, in any of:  [Cent. Code §§ 50-25.1-02(13); 27-20-02(8)]

(A)     Lack of proper parental care or control [supervision], subsistence [necessities], required schooling, or other things necessary for physical, mental, or emotional health, or morals, though the parent, guardian, or other custodian is financially able;

(B)     Illegally placed for care or adoption [by anyone];

(C)    Abandoned by the parents, guardian, or other custodian:  [Cent. Code § 27-20-02(1)]

(1)     (For a noncustodial parent): , without justifiable cause, failing to communicate significantly with the child or provide legally required care and support;

(2)     (For a custodial parent): Leaving the child for an indefinite period without making plans with the caregiver for the parents' resumption of physical custody;

(3)     (For a custodial parent): Failing to arrange for a child's discharge within 10 days after s/he no longer requires hospital care, whether for birth or treatment; 

(4)     (For a custodial parent): Willfully failing to furnish food, shelter, clothing, or medical attention that is reasonably sufficient to meet the child's needs;

(D)    Has a physical, mental, emotional, or other illness or disability that (a) prevents the parent(s) from providing suitable care (that is, the neglect is not by a willful act or omission), AND (b) the parent(s) request(s) care for the child’s welfare;

(E)     Needs a treatment that was ordered by a court due to the behavior of the parent(s), guardian, or custodian, but s/he or they refuse to participate;

(F)     Was exposed as an unborn child to chronic, severe use of alcohol or any controlled substance in a way that was not lawfully prescribed by a practitioner; this is evidenced by a newborn’s withdrawal symptoms or toxicology test results, or by medical effects or developmental delays in the child’s first year of life;

(G)    Is present in an environment exposing him/her to a controlled substance or drug paraphernalia; OR

(H)    Is a victim of human trafficking: i.e., the person knowingly recruits, transports, transfers, harbors, receives, provides, obtains, isolates, maintains, or entices the child in furtherance of: (a) forced labor; or (b) sexual servitude in commercial sexual activity with or without force, OR the person knowingly patronizes the child in commercial sexual activity.  [Cent. Code §§ 12.1-41-01 to 12.1-41-06]