Higher Confidence Rating for Hotline Connection Center

The number of referral calls received by the County Connection Center has been steadily increasing since its inception at the start of the year. Located in the Prowers County Annex, employees refer calls regarding child welfare in the state to appropriate counties for follow-up action. Local director, Ron Trowbridge and Jack Hilbert, Child Welfare Hotline System Manager for Colorado, met with the Prowers County Commissioners recently for an update.

Trowbridge said calls for June were on the increase, ”We’re seeing a gradual month-by-month increase up to this June with a majority of calls coming back from the counties. Right now, 75% of the calls are through the 844 Kid’s Line as the advertising campaign is having an effect. The counties are continuing to manage more of their calls at this point.” He added that staffing is now full and training of employees continues, “With more experience, we’ll provide a broader understanding of the process and the staff will be able to ask more detailed questions of callers,” he added.

Hilbert agreed on that point, commenting on the caliber of the students being sent to Denver for training. “With the summer season, though, we are seeing about 20% less calls coming in from mandatory responders, such as teachers, during the summer break,” he added. Hilbert said he’s seen a trend developing where other centers are routing their calls to the Prowers hub. “They may get into a situation such as a recent tornado warning, where the entire building had to evacuate to safety. They called here and in a matter of moments, we were able to handle the calls coming in to their location. There’s been more and more of that taking place and not just for emergencies as it’s going to continue and become more automatic when there’s a staff training session somewhere, they’ll just defer to Ron’s team.”

By Russ Baldwin