1. DCFS E.R.C.P. AFTER HOURS 1 ST RESPONDERS EMERGENCY RESPONSE COMMAND POST CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATORS

2. WHAT IS THE ROLE OF ERCP ? The Emergency Response Command Post DCFS Team is charged with responding to and investigating ALL Child abuse referrals that the DCFS Child Protection Hotline receives after 5pm which require an IMMEDIATE RESPONSE by an Investigating Social worker. The E.R.C.P. program has been in existence for over 25 years, and is comprised of very experienced Children’s Social Workers who specialize in, and are specifically trained as First Responders who assess the Immediate Safety and Risk of harm to children. E.R.C.P. responds to and investigates over 80% of all Child Fatality/Critical Incident referrals that are generated at the Child Protection Hotline.

3. ERCP PEAK HOURS /WORKLOAD ERCP responds to Child Abuse Immediate response referrals through out the entire County of Los Angeles. ERCP responds to other Counties if deemed necessary during an investigation of a Child Abuse referral after hours. The ERCP operation receives the highest number of Immediate Response Child abuse referrals from the Child Protection Hotline during the hours of 700pm to 1100pm nightly. The average number of children assessed monthly is just under two thousand. It is during these peak hours that the Child Protection Hotline generally experiences the highest volume of calls from mandated reporters such as hospitals, law enforcement, school personnel, other professionals and the public in general. During ALL legal holidays (i.e. Labor day, Memorial day, Columbus day, Xmas day, etc…) the volume of workload/intake for ERCP increases by approximately 100% due to DCFS ER offices being closed for business

4. WORK SHIFTS/STAFFING PATTERNS 24 HOUR COVERAGESWING SHIFTSGRAVEYARD SHIFTS MONDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM TUESDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM WEDNESDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM THURSDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM FRIDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM SATURDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM SUNDAY4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM HOLIDAYS4PM-230AM1100PM-930AM DAYTIME SUPPORT SHIFT MONDAY- FRIDAY600AM- 530AM

5. WORKING “IN THE DARK” After hours, the resources available to the DCFS ERCP First Responder Social Worker are very limited as we operate during “non business hours”. We have limited access to collaterals such as many mandated reporters, school personnel, little or no access to the “attending medical doctor who examined a victim during “regular business hours”, the police officer or detective who responded to an earlier child abuse scene and is now “off shift”, or the coroner investigator who conducted the preliminary exam on a Child Fatality and called the Child Abuse Hotline to report; but is now on to another call. Since our sources of gathering information/facts are fewer during “non business hours” we are heavily dependent upon the cooperation of local Law Enforcement and medical facilities in the information gathering phase/process.

6. WORKING “IN THE DARK” We rely heavily on the expertise of medical professionals at local hospitals during our after hours investigations when investigating a referral called in by the hospital. If a victim was seen in the “emergency room” during normal business hours, we interview the current attending Doctor (at the time of our investigation), since shift changes occur during evening hours when we are working as well. We are dependent upon the participation and cooperation of law enforcement in providing us with pertinent information, assist us in gaining legal entry, maintaining the peace as we conduct our investigation, and assist us with obtaining on the spot criminal history (if capable) and call activity to a residence we are investigating.

7. TEAMING “AFTER DARK” Effective information sharing between DCFS/ERCP and the various First Responder agencies that work simultaneously or along side us after hours, is critical and needs to be examined further and improved amongst all of our agencies. Those agencies include but are not limited to any agencies that work along side DCFS when responding to Child Abuse. Easy and Immediate access to pertinent information from other First Responder agencies is KEY. There must be an effort to create a better coordinated multi agency response for Child Abuse investigations conducted by ERCP After hours. Collaboration in real time will provide ERCP with more accuracy in the assessment of abuse, less redundancy, more efficiency and safer decisions for children. ERCP Social workers must have the capacity to work simultaneously with other First Responders agencies.

8. TEAMING “AFTER DARK” There must be a designated Hospital Medical professional (MD) or an electronic database available 24 hours a day from which to obtain pertinent medical information and findings. Often times, Hospital social workers review a child’s medical chart and provide the ERCP investigator with information; however many times those medical notes entered by the treating/attending doctor are not clear or ambiguous when it comes to the important question; “was the injury a result of abuse or neglect?” At times, the medical results are not yet available as well. There must be a major enhancement of joint training by our First Responder agencies on the identification and field investigation of Child Fatality/Near Fatality cases that are a result of Abuse and Neglect. There must also be individualized enhancements within each profession and a cross training between our agencies.