30:1-1.1 Comprehensive social services information toll-free hotline service established.

1. a. The Commissioner of Human Services, in consultation with the Commissioners of Community Affairs, Health and Senior Services, Children and Families and Labor and Workforce Development, shall establish and maintain on a 24-hour daily basis a comprehensive social services information toll-free telephone hotline service, operating through one of the existing telephone hotline services of the department. The hotline service shall use a computerized Statewide social services data bank to be developed by the Department of Human Services and shall include among its staff persons who speak English and Spanish. The hotline service shall receive and respond to calls from persons seeking information and referrals concerning agencies and programs which provide various social services, including but not limited to: child care, child abuse emergency response job skills training, services for victims of domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, home health care, senior citizen programs, rental assistance, services for persons with developmental disabilities, mental health programs, emergency shelter assistance, family planning, legal services, assistance for runaways and services for the deaf and hearing impaired, as well as information about public assistance, Medicaid, Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled, Lifeline, Hearing Aid Assistance for the Aged and Disabled, food stamps and home energy assistance.

b. The Commissioner of Human Services, in conjunction with the Commissioners of Community Affairs, Health and Senior Services, Children and Families and Labor and Workforce Development, shall take such actions as are necessary to consolidate existing State telephone hotline services into the comprehensive social services information toll-free telephone hotline service, and thereby eliminate duplicative telephone hotline services.

c. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection b. of this section to the contrary, the Commissioner of Human Services shall also establish and maintain a toll-free telephone hotline service for persons who are receiving institutional or community-based services from, or through an agency contracting with, the Division of Mental Health Services or the Division of Developmental Disabilities, or their parents, guardians or other responsible persons, to register complaints, request information or assistance, or discuss issues and problems, regarding those services in a confidential manner.

L.1991, c.524, s.1; amended 1995, c.85; 2006, c.47, s.111.