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Call Center's Antiquated Technology Blamed for Failure of Abuse Hotline

By Linda Dobel
TMCnet Contributor

The death of a 10-yer-old Florida girl and the horrific injuries sustained by her twin brother may have been prevented had the operation of the call center that is responsible for taking child abuse hotline calls been run more professionally and with more advanced technology, according to testimony from the Florida Department of Children and Families’ new secretary David Wilkins.

The Palm Beach Post reported today that Wilkins recently retired after nearly three decades as an executive at Accenture (News - Alert), a call center outsource firm that is described as “world class,” where he most recently oversaw the company's global sales organization, which operates in more than 25 countries. Speaking to the House Health and Human Services Access Committee Wednesday, Wilkins, who has been secretary of The Florida Department of Children and Families for less than two months, described its call center as operating like a “low-cost” call center. "They have a low-cost call center mentality,” he said. He told the House Committee that the Department of Children and Family's call center needs an overhaul.

Problems with the call center came to light in February after 10-year-old Nubia Barahona’s dead body was found in a plastic bag in the back of the pickup truck belonging to Jorge Barahona, her adoptive father, along I-95 in West Palm Beach, the Palm Beach Post said. Her twin brother, Victor, the report said, was covered in unknown toxic chemicals and having seizures on the front seat, while Jorge was on the ground outside.

Prior to this gruesome tragedy, call center agents taking calls for the child abuse hotline apparently failed to connect four separate telephone calls concerning the Barahonas.

Wilkins explained that different call center agents received different abuse complaints and “the software did not allow workers to piece the story together.” He said "They have a very dated, antiquated technology at the call center."

Wilkins also said the “culture and intent” of the hotline’s call center is subpar and needs to be changed. He explained that in the past, agents received criticism for taking too long to answer calls, so now they are rated on how quickly they handle calls, which is not the proper way to treat abuse reports. “You don't want to get off the phone in this situation," he said. When later listening to one of the calls related to the Barahonas, Wilkins said, "You could tell the operator wanted to get off the phone because he's measured by how long his call is."

The call center’s operating practices are also in need of change. Currently agents fill out paper forms and then enter the information into the computer. Then another group of employees deals with any reports that have not been correctly entered. There is little “investigative and counselor-type” probing going on, Wilkins reported. People "just follow these orders."

The bottom line, according to Wilkins, is the hotline call center was a big part of an "entire system [that] failed in the situation with the Barahonas."