The Florida Abuse Hotline is the centralized operation responsible for receiving, analyzing, and assigning reports of alleged of abuse, neglect, exploitation, and special conditions for all children and vulnerable adults in Florida. The hotline accepts reports 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The hotline also conducts criminal background checks on participants of reports, potential caregivers for children in out-of-home care, and for reunification purposes.

The Florida Abuse Hotline receives calls, faxes, and web-based reports from citizens and professionals with concerns of abuse, neglect, or exploitation of children or vulnerable adults. Individuals can contact the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-96-ABUSE or 1-800-962-2873; fax a report to 1-800-914-0004; or report online. A hotline counselor assesses the information provided by the caller and determines if the information provided meets statutory criteria for the department to conduct an investigation by a child protective investigator or adult protective investigator in the appropriate county office.

The Florida Abuse Hotline accepts, screens, and refers reports of alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation for two vulnerable groups.

• Adults. Adults with disabilities and elders receive services through the Adult Protective Services Program. Clients include adults with physical and mental incapacities who are unable to protect themselves from abuse, neglect, or exploitation.
• Children. Children who are abused and neglected receive services through the department's Office of Child and Family Well-Being. Clients include children who are alleged to have been abused, neglected, or abandoned, or who are in a situation of threatened harm due to acts or omissions of the parent, adult household member, or other household member responsible for the child's welfare.

In Fiscal Year 2021-22, the Florida Abuse Hotline received 477,254 contacts.

Contact Source	Number of Contacts
Calls	292,248
Online	185,006
Total	477,245
Alleged Victim Type	Number of Contacts
Child	329,323
Adult	106,908
Total	436,231

Source: Department of Children and Families.

The hotline also received 34,138 requests for referral information on services from the public and completed 570,017 criminal background checks on individuals who were subject of reports and/or relative/non-relative placements.

The Florida Abuse Hotline's abandoned call rate for Fiscal Year 2021-22 was 34%, which did not meet the legislative standard of 3%.

The Florida Abuse Hotline is funded as part of the Family Safety Program budget entity.

The following new initiatives are under development for incorporation into the operational environment of the Florida Abuse Hotline.

• Incorporate a revised Hotline Supervisor quality review process where more focus will be on addressing specific identified trends to be improved.
• Incorporate modified qualifications for the hotline Counselor advertised positions to expand the qualified applicant pool.  

Annual Report on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Florida, 2023, Report 23-08, June 2023

Annual Report on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Florida, 2022, Report 22-05, July 2022

Annual Report on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Florida, 2021, Report 21-06, July 2021

Annual Report on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Florida, 2020, Report 20-05, July 2020

Other Reports
The Auditor General reports on department operations are located on its website

Websites of Interest
Reporting Abuse/Neglect/Exploitation to the Florida Abuse Hotline
Child Welfare Information Gateway, Identification of Child Abuse and Neglect

Performance Information
Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan.
Planning and Performance Measures report the department's performance on external and internal measures for its various programs. The measures allow the user to view performance at both a statewide and geographic region level.

Chapter 39 Part II and s. 415.103, Florida Statutes

Department of Children and Families, 850-487-1111 or 1-800-96-ABUSE
Website