A host of North Dakota children's services are in jeopardy after North Dakota lost millions of dollars in federal funding.

At stake are programs offered by the Children's Services Coordinating Committee, which helps state and local agencies fund programs that prevent at risk children from ending up in the juvenile court system or foster care. About $10 million has flowed into the state through the CSCC in the last four years, most of which went to school programs and the state Division of Juvenile Services.

State officials say if the programs are dropped, more children will end up in the juvenile court system and become wards of the state. CSCC's state and eight regional offices will either close by June 2005 or operate without funding. Four tribal CSCC offices have already shut down.

The state CSCC was created by the Legislature in the late 1980s to bring agencies across the state together on behalf of children. Funding for the group started in 1994 when regional and tribal offices were started. Elimination of those dollars came last June, and CSCC offices have cut positions, trying to keep their doors open until June 2005.

Regional branches of the CSCC are made up of representatives of children's agencies and focus grant money on the area's biggest problems. They receive part of the federal dollars that come into the state and use them to give grants to fund local programs.

Funding is in jeopardy because a recent Missouri Supreme Court decision narrowed the definition of who's elgible for the federal dollars. Now only foster children and the state Human Services Department agencies can receive the money. In North Dakota, the funds were used to prevent kids from ending up in foster care and didn't operate under Human Services.

Affected state agencies will ask legislators for additional funds to keep children's programs afloat, but if they don't succeed, programming cuts will be inevitable, officials said.

"We are sacrificing our kids," said Kathy Keiser, chairwoman of the state CSCC. "North Dakota kids are going to pay for this."

If programming is lost, it's going to cost the state, said Dave McGeary, juvenile court director for the South Central judicial district, which includes Bismarck. CSCC money pays for diversion programs that try to keep kids out of the court system.

Among the programs facing cuts is the unruly diversion program, which is operated by Youthworks and serves about 55 kids per year. Youth who are referred to the state for unruly behavior are put in the program and stay in their parents' custody. The program costs about $20,000, compared to the $2,600 a month it costs for one child who goes through the court system and becomes a ward of the state.

Another program requires youth to meet the victims of their crimes and come to a resolution, and a tracking program hires people to supervise juveniles who are on probation.

"This is a rather significant loss," McGeary said. "We are literally having to prioritize those needs and find out where the funding is going to come from to keep these programs going."

The North Dakota Supreme Court received $350,000 every two years from the CSCC for juvenile services, said Susan Sisk, the court's director of finance. She said if the state doesn't pick up the tab, programming will be cut.

"These things (programs) are critical when working with youth," Sisk said. "We can definitely show these programs have a positive impact when dealing with youth but everyone is fighting for (state) funds."

CSCC also is providing funding for after-school programs and tutoring for at-risk students struggling in the classroom. Bismarck school nurses received $7,000 from the CSCC. Assistant Superintendent Rick Buresh said the district will have to absorb the loss with general fund dollars.

CSCC also gave thousands of dollars for Bismarck and Century high school after-prom and graduation parties, funded a middle school after-school program at the YMCA and provided parents with resources to help their kids with reading.

"We will definitely miss them," Buresh said. "We leaned on each other very much with staff members supporting each other's mission."

Officials from agencies across the state that were tied to the CSCC say it's too soon to tell what the impact will be from the loss.

"It's a huge loss for the children and families of North Dakota," said Paul Ronningen, director of Children and Family Services for the state Department of Human Services. "Without prevention and early intervention the state may see impacts in the area of foster care or other areas that the CSCC was addressing to keep kids out of the system."

(Reach reporter Sheena Dooley at 250-8225 or sheenadooley@ndonline.com.)