Child Abuse Hotline begins 5th year, reports record number of calls in 2017

    Coloradans made a record breaking 211,554 calls to the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline in 2017, reported the Colorado Department of Human Services.
    Launched in January 2015, 844-CO-4-KIDS now enters its fifth year as a resource for Coloradans to learn the warning signs and report child abuse, neglect or sex trafficking.
    The high number of calls to the hotline in 2017 marks the end of the third year of a public awareness campaign by the department to promote the hotline and educate Coloradans on their role in reporting child abuse and neglect.
    In 2016, the department reported 206,107 calls to the state Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline.
    ‘“If you are worried about a child or teenager in your neighborhood, at your church or in school, don’t hesitate to call 1-844-CO-4-KIDS,” said Minna Castillo-Cohen, director of the Office of Children, Youth and Families at CDHS. “Even if you aren’t sure, making that phone call is one of the best ways you can help a kid in Colorado.”  
    In 2017 — the first year that calls about child sex trafficking, a form of child abuse, were tracked by the Colorado Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline — the Department reported 307 potential cases of child sex trafficking.  

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