Dear Editor,
We write in response to a letter appearing in your newspaper of January 21, 2015, captioned ‘Child Protection hotline did not record call.’
The Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA) operates a 24hrs hotline that is manned by seasoned childcare officers. During the year 2014, we responded to four hundred and fifty-six reports of abuse that were received via the hotline.
Every effort is made to attend to a case in 48 hours, but due to the number of reports received there are times we have to prioritize, but we do attend to all the cases reported, subject to us receiving accurate information as to the addresses and location.
The incident described by the writer is most unfortunate and the administration of the CPA will be taking steps to investigate this matter to see what went wrong with the system of recording, but Human Services is such that much depends on the frontline workers – the executioners of the service.
In child protection there is no room for lapses and as such we thank the writer for bringing this incident to our attention. However, we wish to encourage members of the public to keep calling our Hotline – 227-0979 to report incidents of suspected child abuse and to remind them that it is their responsibility to keep reporting the matter until action is taken.
Yours faithfully,
Stacy Fraser
For Childcare and Protection
Agency
