Monday, June 8, 2009

In All Sincerity (Really)

After inquiring with the Utah Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), I have learned the following:

36,456 calls/reports of abuse and neglect were made to the DCFS Intake office in 2008. Of those 36,456 calls/reports DCFS accepted 19,878 calls/reports as cases for investigation.

Of the 19,878 calls/reports that were accepted as cases for investigation DCFS determined that 31 of them were “False Report”.

Thus, according to DCFS, .00156% (that's slightly more than one thousandth of a percent) of the 19,878 calls/reports of abuse and neglect were determined to be false reports.

Does anyone other than I find this hard to believe? Does anyone believe that of the 19,878 calls/reports of abuse and neglect DCFS received that were initially decided to investigate all but 31 of them were legitimate? If DCFS itself determines up front that 16,669 of the 36,456 initial calls/reports are not legitimate, how can DCFS then conclude that all but 31 of the remaining 19,878 are legitimate reports of abuse or neglect?