After settling the largest sex abuse payout in U.S. history, Los Angeles County has established a 24/7 hotline for reporting suspected child sexual assault or exploitation involving government-run facilities or personnel.
Beginning this month, people who witness, experience or suspect child sexual abuse related to a Los Angeles County employee, contractor or volunteer can call 211 or submit an online child abuse reporting form as part of a confidential, multilingual and “trauma-informed” process.
“Our new 211 hotline is a critical tool to help us identify, intervene, and take swift action against anyone who would harm the children they are entrusted to protect,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis in a press release. “As the safety net for our most vulnerable, every County employee, contractor, and volunteer has a responsibility to do right by our youth.”
In addition to the hotline, the county has implemented other reforms in recent years to prevent sex abuse of children. Those include an updated Zero Tolerance policy, mandatory countywide training to identify and prevent childhood sexual abuse and planned reform of civil service rules governing “egregious conduct.”
“This new resource is an essential part of a much broader plan to ensure that abuse does not go unreported or unpunished,” said the county’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Joe Nicchitta. “The County is committed to enforcing its Zero Tolerance policy.”
In a follow-up email Nicchitta said the idea for the hotline originated with Los Angeles County “and is not modeled after any other jurisdiction’s system.” He went on to state that his county “recognized the need for a centralized reporting system to quickly identify abuse — similar to the Child Protection Hotline” for reports of neglect or abuse. “By using an independent third party rather than a County department to manage the hotline,” he added, “we can offer callers the highest possible level of confidence that they are in a safe space and all conversations will remain confidential other than to investigators.”
These efforts come in the wake of court filings alleging that thousands of children were sexually assaulted in county-run juvenile detention facilities and a notorious foster care shelter. In April, Los Angeles County announced a historic $4 billion settlement with nearly 7,000 plaintiffs who described being abused in the county’s care from 1959 to 2023. That sum has outstripped other far-reaching childhood sex abuse settlements, including those reached with the Boy Scouts of America and Catholic archdiocese in Los Angeles.
In October, the county settled with a second group of roughly 400 other survivors and their lawyers for $828 million. LAist reported that about 2,500 cases are still unresolved, with more expected to come.
The settlements follow passage of Assembly Bill 218, a 2019 state law that allowed survivors of childhood sex abuse to file claims exceeding the statute of limitations before they turned 40. Several other states passed similar laws and have seen sex-abuse claims spike.
The Los Angeles County effort has been complicated by an October Los Angeles Times investigation that identified plaintiffs in the first settlement who said they were paid to fabricate abuse allegations. Since then, the county has appointed a retired judge to oversee payments for the first settlement. District Attorney Nathan Hochman has also opened an investigation into claims of fraud related to the settlements.
But in a press statement today, the county pledged to receive any more allegations that may surface.
“The County recently launched this centralized, independent reporting platform as part of its detailed corrective action plans aimed at preventing abuse,” it reads. “It is urging victims, families and witnesses to abuse or suspected abuse to call 211 or make a report online at 211la.org/report-childsexualabuse.” In response, “reports will be automatically flagged for a senior County team charged with assessing claims and expediting investigations.”
This article has been updated to include comments from Acting Chief Executive Officer Joe Nicchitta sent after publication of the original version.
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