The Division of Family Services is responsible for establishing, maintaining and operating the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit. This Unit provides a statewide, toll-free central receiving point for all reports of abuse or neglect. The Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit receives all reports of abuse or neglect and forwards those reports to the appropriate county DFS office for investigation.
The structure-of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit
The Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit is staffed with trained and experienced Social Service Workers. All staff have bachelor or masters degrees and receive a 40 hour pre-service training program, as well as ongoing in-service general and specialized training to assist them in interviewing callers, assessing information and classifying reports of abuse or neglect.
The operations of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit
The Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit operates the statewide toll-free telephone service 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Staff are available at all times to accept calls and to assist callers in either making reports of abuse or neglect, and by providing referral services when appropriate,
The role of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit
The essential function of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit is to provide the citizens of the State of Missouri with around the clock access to the Division of Family Services in reporting abuse and neglect. The Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit is the primary contact point between callers and the Division, and as such serves as the intake point for thousands of reports annually.
The work of the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit
Annually, the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit accepts and processes approximately 100,000 calls. Over half of those calls are accepted as Child Abuse and Neglect Reports for investigation. Another 25,000 calls are referred by the Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline Unit to local agencies. The remaining calls receive telephone assistance or referral.
Information provided by Missouri Division of Family Services.
HTML conversion by Central Missouri Child Advocacy Law Center.
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