But she acknowledged that the number of people sending in abuse information by fax and voice mail would not be enough to account for the 26 percent abandoned-call rate that was cited in a recent information paper. John Sanguinett, executive director of the Exchange Center to Prevent Child Abuse in St. Petersburg, does not work directly with the hotline but said an overloaded system would definitely be a concern. State social workers had investigated her injuries but failed to see them as evidence of abuse that should prompt her removal from her home. The law, which took effect July 1, was designed to prevent a repeat of Kayla's death by requiring the state to investigate complaints of abuse more thoroughly. Earlier, hotline operators and social workers could use some discretion in those cases.
Judges appear to be calling the hotline more.
In July 1998 the hotline received 195 calls from courts, but this July the total jumped to 539. Also, under the new law, hotline operators must take down pertinent information even on calls that do not require investigation, which takes up more staff time. This allows the department to investigate cases in which three or more abuse reports are made concerning the same child, even if they seem on the surface not to merit an investigation. The law's changes have led to an increase in the number of calls to the hotline, and also to an increase in the amount of time it takes to process those calls. An average of 800 to 900 calls came in to the hotline each weekday before the Kayla bill, but that number has increased to between 1,200 and 1,500 recently, the report states.