Child Abuse,neglect can be reported to county

The community can now make reports of child abuse and neglect through the Washoe County Social Services Department 24 hours a day. Social Services can also now initiate an immediate and direct response by a child protective services emergency response worker 24 hours a day.

"We see an average of about 375 investigations a month from phone calls and reports right now," Mike Capello, director of Social Services for Washoe County said. "There is a need for a more timely and effective response to reports of child abuse and neglect after hours so we expanded operational hours to respond directly to reports of child abuse and neglect 24 hours a day."

Prior to this, Social Services was only fully operational from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for emergency or high-risk cases.

Washoe County's child protective services emergency response unit staff was doubled to cover the additional hours of operation. Reports of abuse and neglect can be made to (775) 785-8600 at any time. If a child is in immediate danger, citizens should call 911.

This increase in the department's ability to receive calls and respond 24 hours a day is made possible through collaboration with the Crisis Call Center and the approval of additional funding by the Washoe County Board of County Commissioners.

The call is received at Washoe County Social Services until 10 p.m. and after that calls are automatically routed to the Crisis Call Center who then contact the on-call Social Services emergency response workers.



For more information visit www. washoecounty.us/socsrv.