South Dakota’s Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment’s 2025 public policy statements cover key policy initiatives for South Dakota. These positions emphasize prevention, family support, reporting procedures and data-driven policymaking. Our priorities are based on the CDC’s evidence-based framework for child abuse and neglect prevention strategies. The following statements were established because they reduce risk factors and increase protective factors associated with child abuse and neglect prevention.

2024 Public Awareness Initiative

Our 2024 Public Awareness Initiative focused on highlighting the urgent need to protect children in the digital age by educating legislators, parents, and communities about risks children face online such as exploitation, exposure to harmful content, and privacy concerns for our youth. As technology becomes an integral part of childhood, raising awareness ensures that families are better prepared to mitigate these dangers and advocate for safer online spaces. This initiative is vital to building a collective effort to safeguard children’s well-being in an increasingly connected world.

  • Expand paid family and medical leave to facilitate parent-child bonding, to encourage positive parenting practices, and to reduce financial stress on families.
  • Promote societal responsibility for investment in child well-being and family support systems.
  • Encourage voluntary initiatives by providing incentives for businesses offering family-friendly services like childcare, childcare stipends, or flexible work options.

  • Enhance online protections for minors, including but not limited to implementing robust age verification measures on pornography websites, ensuring safer online environments, and safeguarding against harmful content and exploitation of our youth.
  • Expand child and sexual abuse prevention education programs and strengthen relevant laws.
  • Enhance resources and laws to address the co-occurrence of child maltreatment and substance abuse, mental health struggles, domestic violence, and financial insecurity.

  • Enhance availability and access to quality, affordable childcare and early education through public/private collaborations and funding solutions.
  • Expand access to culturally competent pediatric healthcare.
  • Increase availability of family and child trauma counseling and mental healthcare.
  • Improve coordination across sectors to identify and address access to care barriers.

  • Support community-driven initiatives that involve civic organizations, businesses, and community leaders to promote positive parenting practices and programs that support families.
  • Advocate for expanded access to home visitation programs and other evidence-based programs offering guidance, support to parents, and evidence-based interventions that aim to increase healthy family functioning.
  • Support initiatives focused on enhancing parenting skills, ensuring accessibility and effectiveness to increase parental protective capacities.

  • Advocate for enhancements in primary care services with a focus on child welfare, aiming to intervene and prevent future risks.
  • Encourage legislative initiatives that support prevention programs aiming to mitigate problem behaviors and reduce risk for perpetration or victimization of violence.
  • Invest in collection, analysis and sharing of data to identify risks, protective factors and service gaps impacting child well-being and family stability.

Additional Resources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2019). Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence. (cdc.gov)

Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment. (2023). Children’s Well-being Data Initiative – CPCM (sdcpcm.com).

Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment Training: Recognizing & Reporting Child Maltreatment – CPCM (sdcpcm.com).

Center for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment Legislative Activity – CPCM (sdcpcm.com).

National Conference of State Legislatures. (2023). Policy Levers for Preventing Child Maltreatment. Policy Levers for Preventing Child Maltreatment (ncsl.org).

National Conference of State Legislatures. (2022). Child Welfare Fellows Program. https://www.ncsl.org/human-services/child-welfare-fellows-program.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2016). Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Resource for Action: A Compilation of the Best Available Evidence. (cdc.gov).

Mother and daughter smiling at one another.

Resources

Bills: To view a full listing of the 2025 Legislative Bills, visit the SD Legislative Research Council webpage.

Legislators: There are 70 Legislators serving in the House of Representatives and 35 Legislators serving in the Senate. You can find your Legislators on the SD Legislative Research Council webpage. A complete listing of 2025 Legislators can also be found on the SD Legislative Research Council webpage.

Committees: There are 26 total standing committees (13 in each house, divided by subject matter). The primary function of a standing committee is to consider each bill or resolution assigned to the committee and to make a specific recommendation on what action should be taken regarding the bill or resolution. Following the introduction and first reading of a bill in either house, the presiding officer assigns the bill to a committee based on the subject matter. Generally, bills dealing with certain subjects are assigned to the same committee. You can find out which committees your Legislators serve on by visiting the SD LRC  webpage.

Schedule: The regular schedule and room assignment for standing committees is located HERE. For an up-to-date listing of committee schedules and agendas, click HERE. The SD Chamber of Commerce and Industry provides the annual legislative handbook.

Visiting the Capitol: Members of the public are welcome to visit the State Capitol during legislative session. To view a guide for planning your trip and knowing what to expect, visit the LRC website HERE.