RELEASE: October 31, 2003

Previous Screen

DYFS will launch a 24-hour central hotline for the screening
of child abuse allegations by the end of this calendar year

The Division of Youth and Family Services will launch by the end of this calendar year a 24-hour central hotline for the screening of child abuse allegations – a system that New Jersey is long overdue in implementing.

In addition, DYFS Director Edward Cotton said today the agency will utilize advanced technology to track how well its workers are monitoring and serving families. Cotton said he has set a November 15 deadline for workers to begin using a web-based tracking system that requires workers to log every time they visit a family, so that he can better track if workers are supervising families closely enough.

“Central screening is state-of-the-art for the handling of child abuse allegations,” said Cotton, who spearheaded reforms and helped implement similar central registry at the Illinois child welfare system several years ago.

Currently, New Jersey has central screening for only those child abuse reports that are received in the evening or on the weekends and holidays. During business hours, when the vast majority of reports are fielded, the calls are received at local DYFS offices located throughout the state and handled exclusively by the local office.

“What you have now is a system that is fragmented,” said DHS Commissioner Gwendolyn L. Harris, who hired Cotton in July after conducting a national search for a new director. “How the allegation is screened and responded to can differ from area to area and that must change.”

Moreover, Cotton said DYFS management has no ability to track the calls that are being handled directly by the various district offices to ensure that they are being responded to appropriately and uniformly.

“This will dramatically improve communication within the division, which is lacking,” said Cotton, noting that it sometimes takes days for critical cases, like the Jackson case in Collingswood, to be comprehensively reported to him.”

“The people manning this 24-hour hotline will of the highest caliber and will be extensively trained to screen each allegation using the same standards whether you are in Salem County or Essex County,” said Cotton. “These screeners will also determine the speed with which local offices will be required to respond.

“The central screener will determine if you drop everything and go, if you have an hour or if have 24 hours to respond to an allegation,” said Cotton.

Cotton said that the central screeners will be required to conduct child abuse/neglect background checks immediately when a call comes in.

“My goal is to get this system to the point where that screener can keep the caller on the phone while they check the background of the person against whom the allegation is being made,” said Cotton. “If you are getting a call on an individual who has a history with the division, the screener might want to give more urgency to that allegation.”

“The information systems that support our child welfare system are seriously outdated,” said Harris, noting that she was shocked to learn when she became commissioner that DYFS was using the same information system it used when she worked for the agency in the early 1980s.

“Governor McGreevey has made the commitment needed to implement technology that truly supports the work of the agency,” said Harris. “Like so many aspects of our child welfare system, these changes are long overdue.”

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