IL Upgrades Child Abuse Hotline

Enlarge image

Credit Wikimedia Commons

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has a new computerized child abuse hotline after receiving complaints that the old system failed to handle the large number of calls. Last year the department had more than 250,000 calls, but a majority of callers had to wait for a child abuse expert to call back.

The new DCFS director Richard Calica says the problems with the old hotline were unacceptable since it delayed investigations. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.