Legislators have reached a bipartisan deal on revamping Indiana‘s child-abuse hotline, but it‘s likely to be 2014 before the changes take effect.
A study committee has unanimously recommended transforming the much-criticized hotline into what amounts to a dispatch center.
Instead of supervisors in Indianapolis deciding whether a case hundreds of miles away deserves investigation, all calls would be forwarded to regional Child Services offices. D-C-S deputy director David Judkins says that preserves the hotline‘s biggest improvement: it‘s more efficient at reaching caseworkers than the old 92-county system.
The staffing increases will add nearly 170 to the payroll of DCS and cost nine-million dollars.