Missouri Governor signed into law Evie and Sophie's Law, which establishes grooming as a standalone criminal offense in state law and gives prosecutors the ability to charge groomers for predatory behavior intended to lure a minor into a romantic or sexual relationship. The law also mandates human trafficking training for law enforcement and criminalizes sextortion, which is using private photos to blackmail someone. Missouri was previously one of 36 states that do not define grooming by law. The law takes effect in late August 2026.
Criminalizing grooming after the fact addresses the consequence but not the contact itself. Guardii's anti-grooming detection module operates in real time, identifying the pattern of predatory behaviors—compliments, gift offers, isolation tactics, boundary testing—as they unfold in a child's direct messages across platforms including Instagram, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox. The filter flags hostile contact before a relationship is established, surfaces the threat to a parent or school, and enables rapid escalation to the right authority in an emergency, intercepting the harm Missouri's law now seeks to prosecute. For children, schools and safeguarding professionals, detection at the point of contact is the difference between prevention and prosecution.
