In order to bring more consistency to the agency response to reports of abuse and neglect of Kansas children, the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services will begin operating a centralized call-in system in April.

The Protection Report Center, which will be phased in across Kansas over the next several months, is also expected to bring greater accountability to the abuse and neglect intake process. The ultimate goal in creating the Protection Report Center, said SRS Secretary Rochelle Chronister, is to improve the safety of Kansas children and families.

"The Protection Report Center is one step being taken to improve our state=s response to the abuse and neglect of children," she said. "It will allow us to have a uniform and consistent response to abuse or neglect reports based on specific criteria set forth in Kansas law."

The Protection Report Center (PRC) will open April 12 and begin taking reports from southeast Kansas. All other areas of the state will be phased in gradually and all calls or reports concerning abuse and neglect of Kansas children will go to the PRC by the end of July.

Under the system being phased out, calls to SRS go to the Abuse and Neglect Hotline number or to local SRS offices. Across the state, SRS receives about 3,800 reports per month. Some of these reports go to local offices while others go to the hotline.

The telephone number for the Protection Report Center 1-800-922-5330 is the same number as the currently operated Child Abuse Hotline. It is also the same telephone number for reports of adult abuse and neglect and the Protection Report Center will take adult abuse and neglect calls when they are not reported directly to local SRS offices.

The PRC will receive calls 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is located in the Docking State Office Building, Topeka.

Calls to the PRC will be taken by trained professionals who will determine what action is needed. Reports of suspected abuse and neglect will be screened against criteria set forth in Kansas Administrative Regulations. These criteria describe conditions of possible neglect and abuse which the agency has the legal authority and the responsibility to investigate.

The PRC was created to bring more consistency into determinations made on reports of child abuse and neglect. Several other states, including Missouri, Texas, and Illinois, operate a similar centralized intake system for abuse and neglect reports.

Joyce Allegrucci, SRS commissioner of Children and Family Services, said the ability SRS now has to communicate quickly between offices made it possible to centralize the report center. Reports accepted for case assignment based on Kansas law will be transmitted electronically from the PRC to the appropriate SRS office within two hours of receipt of the reporter's concern. Local SRS offices will respond to these reports during agency business hours. When a local SRS office is not open, emergency reports will be transmitted to local law enforcement to investigate.

"The Protection Report Center will give us greater accountability and more effective deployment of staff," Commissioner Allegrucci said. "Field staff in local offices will be freed from the responsibility of intake and have more time for contact with our clients and for investigation of child abuse and neglect."

The decision to create a centralized report center for abuse and neglect reports is part of an overall plan to improve the state's response to these occurrences. SRS, law enforcement organizations, judges, guardians ad litem, physicians, county and district attorneys and others held a symposium in 1997 concerning how to improve the state=s response to abuse and neglect of Kansas children. Several committees formed during the symposium have continued work in this area.

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001