To address the need for an apparatus and method for CDMA-dispatch soft handoff, the present invention enables base-initiated soft handoff for dispatch calls. A mobile station (120) in a dispatch call establishes an individual inbound link (137) with the serving base site (111). The serving base site and one or more adjacent base sites (e.g., 110 and 112) determine the signal quality of the inbound link transmissions of the mobile station. The adjacent base site with the highest received inbound link signal quality is selected as the target soft handoff site. The serving base site then transmits the handoff information to enable the mobile station to begin a soft handoff with the target site.