211 Child Abuse Prevention Reporting

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2010

In partnership with the Inland Empire United Way (IEUW) and San Bernadino County Children and Family Services (CFS), and through a grant from the state of California, San Bernadino County’s Children Network was able to develop a successful collaboration effort to raise public awareness based on the notion that it is everyone’s responsibility to protect children. The campaign’s mission was two-fold: 1) To link the IEUW phone system with that of the local child abuse hotline to facilitate the reporting of known or suspected child abuse; 2) To massively communicate, through various media outlets, the importance and ethical responsibility tied to reporting child abuse. Although CFS’s Child and Adult Abuse Hot Line (CAAHL) is already toll free and easily accessible, the public can now simply dial 211 and be directly connected to CAAHL, when appropriate. Within the first three months of use, this new interface facilitated the completion of 43 child abuse reports.