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Lawmakers are questioning training and supervision at the state’s Child Abuse hotline after the Department of Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll acknowledged that it missed at least two opportunities to save a 5 year old who was thrown off a bridge by her troubled father.

The state spends 18 million dollars a year operating the child abuse hotline. But two calls warning of danger to 5 year old Phoebe Jonchuck…one a week before her death, weren’t taken seriously.  Children and Families Secretary Mike Carroll acknowledged the second call in a meeting with lawmakers.  “In hindsight, looking at those calls, we probably should have accepted them both and we should have inititated an investigation on dad” said Carroll.

Lawmakers with oversight praise the agency for its transparency in the death investigation, but State Senator Eleanor Sobel says the missed calls raise serious questions about training at the hotline.

“What are the qualifications to be on the hotline?  What’s the training? Who’s answering the phones?”

Rep. Gayle Harrell, Chair of the House Children, Families & Seniors subcommittee has similar questions. Q:”What training do you think was lacking at the hotline?”

“I don’t know! And I think the Secretary realizesd that, and he’s already instituted some changes.”

A full report on the days weeks and moths leading up to Phoebe’s death is due Monday.

Secretary Mike Carroll told lawmakers that not only did his agency miss handle the calls, it also failed to assess the danger and provide services. “and dad was allowed custody of that child, and there were really no services put in place for that child, so uyou are gonna see that’s going to be a finding too!”

Records released by DCF show that in 2012, child-protective investigators knew the family had trouble and did nothing.”

The report on Phoebe’s death is required under a law passed last year. The report will contain a full history of the state’s contact with the family. What it did right or wrong, and the redacted calls made to the abuse hotline.