County officials both agreed and disagreed with the grand jury’s findings on the Napa Child Abuse Hotline, noting that some of the things the jury recommended were either not applicable or had already been resolved.
The 2016-2017 Napa County grand jury found that although the staff is well-intentioned and committed, operation of the hotline was inefficient, untimely and contributed to worker burn-out. The grand jury also found public awareness of the hotline to be inadequate.
The Napa Child Abuse Hotline receives an average of 1,300 calls per year, 28 percent of which are received after-hours and on weekends and holidays, according to Napa County’s grand jury report response. The number of Hotline calls received after-hours that require an in-person immediate response averages one per week.
During regular business hours, phone calls to the Child Abuse Hotline are answered by social workers in Napa Child Welfare Services’ Emergency Response Unit. During off hours and on holidays, an off-site answering service takes the calls and refers them to an on-call social worker who may then need to travel back to Napa in order to respond to cases, possibly taking up to two hours to respond.
The directors of the county’s Child Welfare Services (CWS) and Health and Human Services agreed that a full and proficient CWS staff would help with efficiency. Since the jury’s deliberations, the Board of Supervisors approved the addition of a new position at CWS’s Emergency Response Unit.
The added position will contribute to more timely responses and decisions on how to process referrals, the county said. CWS is also expanding the after-hours coverage of hotline calls by CWS staff, helping provide “more seamless coverage.”
Instead of having a Crisis Stabilization Unit screen after-hours calls, as referred to in the jury report, CWS increased the after-hours coverage by implementing scheduling changes and with staffing by CWS Division staff, the directors said. The changes in after-hours coverage and scheduling will also help reduce burnout among social workers and supervisors, directors said.
CWS staff is able to remotely access information during and after business hours with county-issued iPads, the directors said.
Long response times after-hours were another problem that the grand jury addressed in its report, noting that the delay is due to CWS workers living outside the county.
“Most of the long response times are because many of the workers live outside Napa County,” the jury said. “The high cost of housing remains a well-known and ongoing factor in recruiting and retaining qualified staff to Napa County.”
Although directors agreed that some workers may live outside of the county due to housing prices, they said that some prefer to live outside of the county due to the nature of the work and to provide more separation between their work and personal lives. Long response times, the directors said, do not mean that children are in unsafe situations because in referrals that require immediate responses, law enforcement is already present at the scene.
The grand jury suggested that having the technology to record calls to the hotline would be beneficial in training and quality assurance. The directors disagreed with the jury’s finding, saying that recording calls would further inhibit individuals calling in to report suspected child abuse and neglect. Instead, supervisors can sit in on calls and train employees in real time, directors said.
Both the grand jury and the directors agree that individuals may hesitate to report suspected abuse and neglect for fear that children will be removed from their families. In response, the directors said that the CWS Division “strives to make reporters of child abuse and neglect feel as comfortable as possible.” Callers are able to remain anonymous, they noted.
Another reason people may not be calling the hotline is because they don’t know about it, the grand jury suggested.
“Public awareness of the hotline is inadequate,” the jury said. “In order to protect children, Napa County residents must be better informed about the existence of the hotline.”
The CWS director agreed that public awareness could be improved, but noted that the hotline number is “readily available” on the Internet and is promoted during trainings at different organizations throughout the year.
August 18, 2017
Napa Valley Register
By Maria Sestito
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