Lawmakers: DCS hotline needs fix

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - State lawmakers say Indiana's Child Abuse Hotline is broken. And they want it fixed.

Complaints came in after State Senator Brent Steele sent out a survey to judges and law enforcement officials across the state.

"It seems ridiculous to have someone in Indianapolis making decisions regarding rapidly occurring events in our county,” the Noble County Sheriff wrote.

“I will say the new hotline is definitely not as effective as each county handling its own cases,” Warrick County Circuit Court Judge David Kelley said.

State Senator Tim Lanane says lawmakers are now poised “to get answers to some of the questions raised as to the efficiencies and effectiveness of the current system. ”

The Indiana Department of Child Services calls its child abuse hotline a "model for neighboring states." The centralized system consists of one call center in Indianapolis. Prior to September 2010, each county had its own call center.

“I am a strong advocate of either taking the hotline back to the county or on a regional basis,” said State Rep. Gail Riecken (D-Evansville).

She is part of a special study committee that will meet with DCS administrators over the next two months. Their first meeting was held Wednesday afternoon. The Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline issue was briefly addressed.

“We have made some adjustments. We are running a pilot in a local community. We are seeing how it works, how it is working. We are still monitoring it,” said DCS Chief of Staff John Ryan.

Lawmakers say hearing from DCS is important, but they also want to hear from the public.

“We believe the meetings should go beyond the walls of the Statehouse,” said State Rep. Vanessa Summers.

The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 5. That meeting will focus solely on the hotline.