Lee County, Fla. - The Department of Children and Families Circuit 20, which covers most of Southwest Florida, says it receives 25 to 35 new abuse cases each day.

"A good number are high risk and need to be seen more quickly," explained Cookie Coleman, the circuit's administrator.

Coleman says the new cases are investigated immediately but, until the agency's new staff of investigators are trained, the result is a backlog of about 547 cases still waiting to be entered into a statewide database.

Coleman said, "We were down sixty percent on our investigators which meant that frankly, people were getting more cases than they could investigate."

Coleman says no children are in danger, however,reducing the backlog is a major priority for the agency.

That's where a team of child protection investigators from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office comes in.

"We're here to help them out with their backlog right now and helping clear up their cases, do extra field work if needed, trying to help reduce their numbers and ease the stress their current investigators are feeling," said Leigh Williams with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office.

For the next four weeks, the Pasco County investigators will be working with investigators from the DCF Tampa office to eliminate the local circuit's backlog. All of their work is volunteer.

Coleman says if all stays on track, the back log could be eliminated by the end of April at the latest.

"We're getting there," said Coleman, "We're just grateful."

23 new investigators are in training right now and are expected to be on the job by mid-April. Coleman says they will pick up the extra work, preventing another backlog problem from starting.

The DCF office is also working to address training issues by focusing on more extensive training for current and new employees. In the last three months, DCF says it has also improved on community outreach.

These were all issues highlighted during a review of the agency in October.