KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Division of Family Services has a contract with call takers who aren't in Missouri, have never been to the state, and have barely even heard of Missouri,
KMBC's Jeremy Hubbard reported Thursday.
"I was upset about it. I was just adamant," said Joyce Stewart, who called the hot line.
Stewart said that she noticed something strange on the other end of the phone when called a hot line with a question about her Missouri food stamps and noticed an Eastern accent.
"I just asked them, 'Where do you live?' And she said, 'I live in such or such India.' And I said, 'The country of India?' And she said, 'Yeah.' I said, 'Oh my goodness,'" Stewart told Hubbard.
The person Stewart was talking to wasn't in Jefferson City or St. Louis, but likely Bombay or Calcutta, and doing business for the state of Missouri.
Hubbard said that he wanted to see for himself if Stewart was correct, and called the hot line, too.
