As abuse reports to DCF spike, it can take hours to get through

December 11, 2018 11:00 pm • Last Updated: December 13, 2018 8:49 pm

By Claire Bessette
Day Staff Writer

One caller waited on hold for four hours to report a suspicion of abuse or neglect of a minor to a state Department of Children and Families official in November.

Such long hold times occurred as the number of calls to the agency spiked to 10,779 for that month, amid recent heightened awareness by school officials of their mandatory reporting responsibility.

State law requires school personnel to report orally to state DCF careline workers any suspected abuse or neglect of minors within 12 hours of learning of the issues.

Recent high-profile incidents at Norwich Free Academy and Montville High School have contributed to a significant increase in calls to DCF, which prompted Commissioner Joette Katz to announce changes last week aimed at reducing wait times and increasing efficiencies in the reporting system.

DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt released statistics Wednesday to quantify the increased call volumes. Kleeblatt said DCF received more than 10,000 calls each in October and November, when typically, only the month of May — usually the busiest month as school officials report issues before school gets out for the summer, he said — approaches 10,000 calls in the month.

In May, one month after the news of alleged failure to report an in-class slapboxing incident at Montville High School led to criminal charges filed against three Montville High School administrators, DCF received the highest number of calls — 11,062 — in the past three years.

State police accused substitute teacher Ryan Fish of supervising slapboxing bouts in his math class in fall of 2017, and Superintendent Brian Levesque, high school Principal Jeffrey Theodoss and Assistant Principal Tatiana Patten were charged with failing to report suspected abuse according to the mandated reporter statute.

Theodoss retired, and the criminal charge against him later was dropped. The charge against Levesque also was dismissed one day after he and the Board of Education reached a contract buyout agreement. Patten, on leave since January, is due back in court Tuesday.

On Sept. 12, Norwich police charged former Norwich Free Academy assistant coach Anthony Facchini with two counts of second-degree sexual assault for alleged sexual relations with two student athletes in 2017 and 2018 while he worked at the school.

City police and DCF are investigating whether NFA officials, who knew of the first alleged relationship in April 2017, failed to report to DCF or even attempted to cover up the incident. Police have seized NFA computers and emails dating back to then from six NFA officials in that investigation. NFA officials had dismissed the report as unsubstantiated after the coach and the student denied the allegation.

After news of the NFA incidents became widely publicized, calls to DCF statewide spiked to 10,289 in October 2018 and 10,779 in November. Typically, only May totals would approach the 10,000 mark, Kleeblatt said.

Overall, the state agency received 95,286 calls during the first 11 months of 2018, a 7.2 percent increase over the 88,914 total for the first 11 months of 2017, Kleeblatt said. The 11-month 2018 total was 10.9 percent higher than the 85,911 calls received in the first 11 months of 2016.

The changes announced by Commissioner Katz allow mandated reporters at schools to file electronic reports for "non-emergent incidents." DCF also will hire more staff to take mandatory reporting calls and will update technology to ensure reporting is more efficient, Katz wrote in a memo to school superintendents statewide.

Kleeblatt said as of Wednesday, the longest wait time for 2018 was about four hours and occurred in November. In 2017, the longest wait time was three hours, and in 2016, it was one hour and 40 minutes.

Norwich Superintendent Abby Dolliver said Tuesday that a Norwich school official recently waited two hours to make an oral report to a DCF staff person.

School officials welcomed the changes announced by the commissioner and said they continue to encourage all staff to report any suspected incidents, leaving it to DCF officials to investigate and determine whether concerns are valid.

c.bessette@theday.com