Toll-Free Child-Abuse Hot Line Introduced

A 24-hour toll free hot line designed to handle all child abuse and neglect reports made to Los Angeles County social workers began operating Monday, with officials predicting it will streamline procedures and shorten response times.

“The county wants to know about child abuse so we can take the appropriate steps to protect the children,” Supervisor Ed Edelman said at a news conference to promote the 1-800-540-4000 number. Edelman noted that the county handled more than 60,000 alleged child abuse calls last year, twice as many as in 1984.

Robert Chafee, director of the county Department of Children’s Services, said the hot line is linked to a computer system that records each call and identifies available social workers.

He said the new system, which was proposed by Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, centralizes calls that were previously spread out among 23 offices in the county.