Pennsylvania Improves ‘ChildLine' for Child Abuse Reports

The head of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services says his agency has improved the performance of a hotline that handles reports of suspected child abuse. Secretary Ted Dallas said Thursday that the rate of calls to the ChildLine hotline that are abandoned or deflected has fallen from 43 percent at the start of 2015 to 2 percent. Dallas says his agency has added staff, upgraded training and improved technology so that all calls are recorded and they’re easier to process. The department reports that it’s now processing all child abuse history clearances within the law’s 14-day limit, and the average time is about a day and a half. In early 2015, clearances averaged 26 days. New laws to prevent child abuse took effect in January 2015, increasing calls to ChildLine.