Protecting Youth Online at the National Level
How A-G Associates Helped an Inter-Agency Task Force Translate Lived Experience and Research into Authoritative Federal Guidance on Youth Online Safety
Digital technology is ubiquitous in the lives of today’s youth. Social media platforms, online communities, and mobile applications shape how young people communicate, learn, explore identity, and express themselves. In many cases, these tools provide real benefits—connection, creativity, and access to information that previous generations never had.
At the same time, a growing body of research—reinforced by the lived experiences of parents, caregivers, and young people—has revealed serious risks. Harassment, cyberbullying, child sexual exploitation and abuse, and exposure to content that exacerbates mental health conditions, including material promoting eating disorders, threaten the safety and well-being of children and adolescents nationwide.
As these concerns intensified, federal leaders recognized that protecting youth online would require coordinated, cross-government action grounded in evidence, public health expertise, and lived experience.
The Challenge
On May 23, 2023, the White House announced the formation of the Kids Online Health and Safety Task Force, an interagency body charged with advancing the health, safety, and privacy of children and youth online and identifying approaches to address the adverse health effects minors experience while using digital platforms.
The Task Force was composed of 19 members representing a cross-section of federal agencies and offices, including HHS (SAMHSA), DOC (NTIA), ED, DHS, DOJ, the Executive Office of the President, and the Federal Trade Commission. This breadth reflected the complexity of the issue itself—spanning public health, education, technology policy, consumer protection, civil rights, and law enforcement.
In addition, the Task Force faced a dual challenge: capturing the realities of youth online experiences across communities and translating that insight—along with a rapidly evolving research base—into credible, accessible, and policy-relevant federal guidance.
Our Approach
A-G Associates was first engaged to design and lead a five-month series of virtual listening sessions, establishing the foundation for the Task Force’s work. Using facilitated discussion and virtual whiteboards, our team explored online harms, benefits, policy considerations, and priority research gaps with diverse stakeholder groups that included behavioral health providers, academic and research institutions, education-focused organizations, youth-serving and parent organizations, parents of minors, and young adults reflecting on their own experiences online.
Each session was transcribed and subjected to qualitative analysis, allowing A-G to identify key themes, areas of consensus, and critical distinctions across audiences. Findings were distilled into stakeholder-specific one-pagers, circulated among the Task Force to inform internal deliberations and shape emerging policy directions.
Building on the success of this effort, A-G was subsequently engaged to support development of the final interagency report. Between June and August, our team managed the end-to-end production of a 130-page publication, synthesizing stakeholder insights with extensive expert research.
Key execution elements included:
- Managing the end-to-end development process and accelerated publication timeline, including editing, streamlining, and integrating multi-contributor input to ensure narrative flow, clarity, and consistency
- Coordinating content across a 19-member interagency Task Force, aligning diverse agency perspectives into a unified, authoritative voice
- Verifying and formatting 360+ research citations in APA style, ensuring accuracy, traceability, and scholarly rigor
- Ensuring full Section 508 compliance, delivering an accessible, public-facing federal publication suitable for White House release
- This compressed publication window required disciplined program management, rigorous quality control, and close coordination with federal leadership.
19-Member Interagency
Task Force
Aligned and supported across health, education, justice, technology, and consumer protection at the White House level
6 Stakeholder Listening sessions
Qualitative insights from parents, youth, educators, researchers, and providers
130-Page White
House–Published Report
End-to-end development of an authoritative, public-facing federal resource
3-Month Delivery Window
Full publication produced under an accelerated, high-visibility federal timeline
Results
The final report—Online Health and Safety for Children and Youth: Best Practices for Families and Guidance for Industry—was published on the White House website, signaling its importance as an authoritative national resource.
The report provides a balanced, actionable framework that acknowledges both the benefits and risks of digital media while outlining concrete steps for families, industry, and government. It also establishes a durable foundation for continued federal collaboration, future research, and policy development related to youth online health and safety.
Through expert facilitation, disciplined execution, and technical rigor, A-G Associates helped a complex, multi-agency Task Force deliver credible, accessible federal guidance on an accelerated timeline.