Community Services Introduces New Toll-free Child Welfare Number

A new toll-free phone line will make it easier for Nova Scotians to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

The Department of Community Services will launch the toll-free phone line on Sunday, Nov. 26. The new number, 1-866-922-2434, will make it easier for callers to reach a professionally trained social worker after-hours, on weekends, or holidays.

"This is an expansion of the service that is already provided by Community Services in the Halifax Regional Municipality and will ensure callers across the province talk to a professionally trained social worker," said Community Services Minister Judy Streatch. "This centralized service will be responsible for receiving all child protection after-hours calls from across the province from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. on weekdays and 24 hours on weekends and holidays."

This new toll-free number will direct after-hours reports to a centralized intake service which will assess and process calls and when necessary, dispatch local child welfare staff when an immediate response is needed. Currently, individuals calling for child protection services would be connected to an answering service -- in some cases several contacts before reaching their local child protection agent.

The centralized intake service will ensure consistency in practice when responding to after-hours calls and streamline service delivery across the province.

A report outlining strategies to improve services for families and children was released earlier this year. This toll-free line is a recommendation out of that report and will help strengthen services. The report examined: on-call services that provide emergency response after hours; community services and children's aid society shared services, such as facilities and equipment;foster and adoption resources; and placement services for children in care.

The on-call services project examined the after-hours system currently used within the child welfare agencies and district offices. The committee recommended that the minister of community services establish a 1-800 provincial on-call service, to be operated from the central region, extending the existing central region after-hours system.