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DCFS annual report: 34,226 hotline calls, 33 maltreatment deaths found true; agency highlights timeliness and permanency push
Summary
Misha Martin, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, told the Senate Children and Youth Committee the division fielded 34,226 hotline calls (about 20,800 assigned to DCFS), saw 24% of investigations found true and reported 33 maltreatment-related child fatalities. Martin highlighted improved timeliness and a permanency initiative to finalize 285 adoptions by November.
Misha Martin, director of the Division of Children and Family Services, presented the division—s annual report card to the Senate Children and Youth Committee, reporting that the state—s child abuse hotline received 34,226 calls in the reporting year and that roughly 20,800 of those were assigned to DCFS. "Once those calls are accepted, they either go to a traditional investigation route or to what we call differential response," Martin said, describing how cases are triaged.
Martin said the division—s combined true-findings rate for maltreatment investigations was about 24 percent and that investigators returned 33 true findings of child fatality and one near-fatality in the year covered by the report. "We had 33 true findings and 1 near child fatality true findings," she said, directing members to a detailed appendix with individual-case summaries and preliminary causes of death.
On timeliness, Martin reported that initiation targets are improving:…
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