Senate committee hears reports showing pandemic drop in hotline calls and differing 'true' finding rates; DHS advances rule to clarify maltreatment determations

The Senate Children and Youth Committee on the floor heard two related reports Tuesday on child-protection operations, data trends and a proposed rule to clarify how investigators determine when maltreatment has occurred.

Major Jeff Drew of the Arkansas State Police told the committee the CACD annual/quarterly report showed a modest year-to-year decline and that hotline volumes have fallen during the COVID-19 pandemic. "The calls have decreased on average," Major Drew said, estimating weekly call volume had dropped from roughly 1,200–1,500 calls to about 400–600. For 2019, he said the report listed 37,591 accepted calls and that CACD closed 5,513 investigations with 1,851 found true — a substantiation rate he described around 34%.

The panel pressed for more breakdowns by allegation type and county. Representative Birch asked whether the roughly 1,200 call decline from 2018 to 2019 was concentrated in particular categories; Major Drew said he would need to pull monthly, categorical data to answer and offered to provide it.

Director Martin of the Division of Children and Family Services and Kristen Harper, assistant director, presented a separate but related package: a proposed rule packet and the agency's third-quarter (Jan.–Mar.) report. The rule—the Child Maltreatment Determinations Guide, labeled in the packet as Pub 357—recasts the agency's former assessment protocol to narrow the document to the legal elements required to make a "true" finding under the Child Maltreatment Act, presented element-by-element to aid investigators.

"We've essentially lifted the legal elements required to make a finding… and put it into a format that's more easily understandable by a layperson," Harper said, describing the guide's practical use in the field. Director Martin said the guide was rewritten over several years with stakeholder and legal input and noted the agency implemented a public comment request to add a table of contents.

Martin reviewed key metrics from the quarter and the pandemic's early effect. DCFS reported 8,518 incoming hotline calls in the quarter (compared with 8,779 in the prior-year quarter) and said its combined true-finding average across DCFS and CACD was about 23%, with CACD higher (about 31%) and DCFS lower. "I am not concerned about our true rate being around that 23 percent," Martin said, adding that DCFS's preponderance standard for administrative findings differs from prosecutors' higher criminal standard.

Committee members raised the downstream consequence of true findings. Representative Crawford described a constituent whose case was found true by CACD but who faced no prosecution after a county prosecutor declined to charge. Major Drew and other agency attorneys explained that prosecutorial charging decisions are independent; "once we turn it over to them, it's their decision," Major Drew said. Anna Imbeau, an attorney with DHS who identified herself for the record, summarized the legal distinction: administrative or civil findings use a preponderance-of-evidence standard, while criminal prosecutions require proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

The DCFS report also covered foster-care trends and operational adjustments. Martin said foster entries initially rose when pandemic-related court shutdowns reduced discharges, that in-home visit timeliness was an area of focus (71% noted in the report), and that the agency authorized video conferencing for some visits after federal guidance allowed counting telehealth-style contacts as face-to-face. The report listed placement types (30% relatives, 34% general foster homes, 7% therapeutic foster homes, 9% congregate care), sibling placement at 76%, and 443 children available for adoption at quarter end.

The agency walked the committee through the legislatively required overturned-investigations report (exhibit F2), which lists calls accepted for investigation, the number found true, appeals, and overturned findings. Martin said the department tracks overturned rates by county and performs quality reviews and coaching where patterns indicate training needs, but cautioned overturns can reflect multiple factors beyond investigator quality.

On motions and committee business, the panel approved February minutes by voice vote and reviewed the Pub 357 rule packet "without objection." The committee adjourned after members thanked DCFS staff for the work.

What happens next: agency staff offered to provide requested categorical breakdowns and county-level data for members seeking greater detail on how substantiation rates vary by allegation type or locale.