Widespread Inefficiencies Found

The Florida Department of Children and Families (DCF) call center, which handles inquiries about government cash and food assistance programs and Medicaid, has been plagued by long wait times for Spanish-speaking callers, according to a report from UnidosUS, a Hispanic civil rights group. The group’s findings are based on a series of calls made between September and February, which revealed that Spanish speakers faced an average wait time of 54 minutes, compared to just 13 minutes for English speakers.

• These wait times have improved since UnidosUS started monitoring the call center’s efficacy in the summer of 2023.
• The wait times have decreased for both English and Spanish speakers, with Spanish speakers now facing a wait of 56 minutes, down from 120 minutes in 2023.

Despite the improvements, UnidosUS found that 45% of calls made to the Spanish line were disconnected before reaching a live agent, whereas only 5% of calls seeking assistance in English were disconnected.

Advocacy for Bilingual Agents

Jared Nordlund, UnidosUS’ Florida director, has called for the DCF to hire more bilingual call center agents to improve wait times for Spanish-speaking callers. He stated that the $12 million investment in improving the call center last year has shown promise for English speakers, and therefore, more work is needed to address the issues faced by Spanish speakers.

“Clearly, the money we advocated for last session to beef up call centers worked,” Nordlund said in a phone interview with Florida Phoenix. “This has worked really well for English speakers, so clearly there needs to be more work done to help Spanish speakers.”

Efficiencies and Disconnections

The report also highlighted inefficiencies within the call center, including the fact that 54% of calls from Spanish speakers were blocked by the department without being answered by a live agent.