* Elyssa Cherney at the Tribune…

A long-awaited review of the state’s troubled child abuse hotline has found the 24-hour call center needs to hire more staff, revamp its online reporting system and overhaul other procedures so people trying to report maltreatment of a minor don’t have to leave a message and wait for a callback.

The report, released Thursday by the state Department of Children and Family Services, examined hotlines in seven other states and found that Illinois had the only one that could not handle its call volume. During busy periods, callers to the Illinois hotline must leave a message with a worker, and it can take hours, and in some cases days, to receive a response from DCFS.

In the new report, researchers from the University of Illinois’ School of Social Work concluded that “inefficient processes and insufficient technology have limited the ability of Hotline staff to handle the high volume of calls that they receive. … Given the critical importance of the Hotline in protecting the safety of children in Illinois, fixing the identified problems must be considered a high priority and the Department should be given adequate resources to implement potential solutions.” […]

The hotline, which is based in Springfield, is considered the “front door” of DCFS because it’s where all child abuse and neglect investigations begin — with call takers who receive the initial report, assess the allegation and send the information to a local field office for follow-up. During peak times, the hotline receives more than 100 calls an hour and it handled a total of 268,406 calls in the last fiscal year. With call volume rising in recent years, hotline staff has resorted to taking more messages and is struggling to promptly respond to all reports.

* Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line…

Though the review was initially called an “audit,” internal emails between DCFS officials and U of I researchers obtained by The Daily Line show that during the months the report was being researched, written and prepared for release, the terminology switched to “report” and “review.” Additionally, top officials at DCFS and Gov. JB Pritzker’s office were able to review and make edits to the review before it was published — something that would not have been done to an official audit. […]

DCFS officials knew about the results of the report for nearly two months before it was released to certain lawmakers Wednesday and released to the public Thursday. [DCFS Director Marc Smith] himself was copied on several emails in a 213-page packet of emails obtained by The Daily Line between DCFS top brass and the U of I researchers conducting the hotline review.

The emails begin in early June when the partnership between the Children and Family Research Center and the agency was just underway, and conclude a few weeks ago. While the emails show the report was supposed to have been published in early October, the date was pushed back so that DCFS and the governor’s office could provide feedback, including edits.

* Chris Tye at CBS 2…

“These emails say to me that DCFS put a very heavy thumb on the scale,” said Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert. […]

“If DCFS got to edit in rewrites, and the PR people at DCFS was involved, and the Governor’s office got to edit, it was not independent,” Golbert said.

“It makes it seem like they had a lot more influence on it than they should have, which again, I think they should have had nothing to do with the process,” said Leyda Garcia Greenawalt.

Greenawalt leads the Foster Care Alumni Network in Illinois. She said the big loser when government removes independent investigators are the kids who rely on that hotline.

* Back to Hannah…

Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh told The Daily Line that the governor’s office was involved in asking for edits to the report throughout the fall with the explicit goal of getting more specific recommendations from researchers.

“The administration sought specific, actionable feedback through the audit. Requests focused on getting an additional level of specificity about auditors’ recommendations, particularly in regard to staffing,” Abudayyeh said. “The Governor is working diligently with leadership at DCFS to improve frontline processes in order to better serve the state’s most vulnerable children…The department will work to implement all 11 recommendations and will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure vulnerable children across the state are getting the services they deserve.”