NNPD Family Services Liaisons Helping To Reduce Wait Times in Child Abuse Cases
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and we’re highlighting two important individuals making a difference in the lives of children in Newport News.
Meet the Newport News Police Department’s Family Services Liaisons Lexus Lang and Madison Bollhorst. The two liaisons began working for the department in August 2021. The women — Madison’s background is in social work, while Lexus’ emphasis is in psychology and counseling — respond to overnight calls in regards to child or adult protective services cases. The program has yielded positive results in its almost 8-month existence. It has significantly cut down response time, with the liaisons responding to the scene immediately when they are called.
“We’re literally the middleman. We cut the time down … we get to the scene to get the paperwork started so when CPS or APS comes, we’re able to hand it over,” Lexus said.
Madison added that a big part of it is just getting there faster. “So with us being here, we have a direct line with the on-call supervisors and the workers,” she said. “They’ll come [CPS] and they’ll just have to put the safety plan in place ’cause we already got all the information needed.”
It streamlines the process — an hours-long case is now less than an hour. A caseworker shows up, is given the information gathered by Madison or Lexus and in a few minutes a safety plan is put in place and then officers can leave to other calls.
Madison also emphasized that having them available to officers relieves the pressure of having to have multiple hats on at once. Officers are thankful for the work the two women are doing at scenes.
“Officers sometimes don’t understand the social services side of things as much so we understand that lingo and know what kind of questions to ask versus officers are very much in their police mode and trying to keep an eye on the scene of everything,” Madison said.
When it comes to child abuse prevention, Lexus said to look for key signs and red flags of abuse or neglect: a child with bruises or is scared to be around a specific person or hesitant with certain touches.
“We’re trying to protect the kids and so if you ever have a feeling something could be going on it is better to report it and let them investigate it than not. Especially just because you never know they could have a history with abuse or neglect in that family,” Madison said. “Putting in a report could open the eyes and start that investigation process to see if it is an ongoing thing or a one-time thing. A lot of times it is not a one-time thing — there is most of the time a history along with it.”
If you have a feeling, it’s better to report it than not.
We would like to thank Lexus and Madison for their dedication and service in helping the most vulnerable in our community.
