Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Wisconsin Department of Children and Families
Agency overview

Formed	2008
Preceding agencies	Wisconsin Department of Public Welfare Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services
Jurisdiction	Wisconsin
Headquarters	Madison, Wisconsin
Agency executives	Eloise Anderson, Secretary of Health ^[1] Joan Hansen, Deputy Secretary
Parent agency	State of Wisconsin
Website	http://www.dcf.wi.gov/

The Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (WisDCF) is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Wisconsin responsible for providing (and overseeing county provision of) services to assist children and families, including services for children in need of protection or services for their families, adoption and foster care services, licensing of facilities that care for children, background investigations of child caregivers, and child abuse and neglect investigations. It administers the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program, including the child care subsidy program, child support enforcement and paternity establishment, and programs related to the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) income support program. The department is also responsible for early care and education and also administers the licensing and regulation of day care centers.

It has primary responsible for administering Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) within the state. As of 2012, the department is administered by Secretary Eloise Anderson. The DCF secretary is a cabinet member appointed by the Governor of Wisconsin and confirmed by the Wisconsin Senate.^[2]

The Wisconsin DHS is made up of three executive offices and four divisions organized according to function. WisDCF's main office is located in Madison, and it maintains regional offices throughout the state.

History

The Department of Children and Families combines administration and supervision of many state and local functions that had developed separately in the 1800s. In the early days of statehood, public welfare was primarily a function of local governments. For more than two decades after statehood, Wisconsin created separate governing boards and institutions for the care of prisoners; juveniles; and blind, deaf, and mentally ill persons. By 1871, there were six such institutions. The first attempt to institute overall state supervision of these services came in 1871 when the legislature created the State Board of Charities and Reform. Its duties included examination of the operations of state institutions and their boards and investigation of practices in local asylums, jails, and schools for the blind and deaf.^[3]

In 1876, the legislature established the State Board of Health to “study the vital statistics of this state, and endeavor to make intelligent and profitable use of the collected records of death and sickness among the people.” The board was directed to “make sanitary investigations and inquiries respecting the causes of disease, and especially of epidemics; the causes of mortality, and the effects of localities, employments, conditions, ingesta, habits and circumstances on the health of the people.” This directive still defines much of the work done in public health by the department. Later legislation required the board to take responsibility for tuberculosis care (1905), preventing blindness in infants (1909), and to inspecting water and sewerage systems to prevent typhoid and dysentery (1919). In addition, the agency then licensed restaurants, health facilities, barbers, funeral directors and embalmers.

When the federal government entered the field of public welfare during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Wisconsin had already pioneered a number of programs, including aid to children and pensions for the elderly (enacted in 1931). The Wisconsin Children’s Code, enacted in 1929, was considered one of the most comprehensive in the nation. The state’s initial response to the new federal funding was to establish separate departments to administer social security funds and other public welfare programs.

After several attempts at reorganization, the legislature established the Department of Public Welfare in 1939, to provide unified administration of all existing welfare functions. Public health and care for the aged were delegated to separate agencies. The executive branch reorganization act of 1967 created the Department of Health and Social Services. In addition to combining public welfare, public health, and care for the aged the Legislature added the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. The 1960s and 1970s saw an expansion of public welfare and health services at both the federal and state levels.Notable were programs for medical care for the needy and aged (Medical Assistance and Medicare), drug treatment programs, food stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC), and increased regulation of nursing homes and hospitals.^[4]

Creation of Department

The Department of Health and Social Services was renamed the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS), on July 1, 1996. In 2008, various programs of the DHFS were combined with others from the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, to create a new Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.

Wisconsin DCF Divisions

Division of Management Services: Oversees financial management, information systems and technology; human resource services and employment relations; affirmative action and civil rights compliance; purchasing and contract administration; facilities management; project management; and other administrative services. It handles billing and collection of client debts and bills Medical Assistance and Medicare claims to the federal government
Division of Family and Economic Security: Responsible for the W-2, child support, and refugee services programs.
Division of Safety and Permanence: Directly administers child welfare services in Milwaukee County, supervises county-administered child welfare services in the rest of the state, and manages related programs including prevention services and the Special Needs Adoption program.
Division of Early Care and Education : Responsible for the child care licensing and quality improvement programs, including YoungStar; administers the Wisconsin Shares program; and manages the Milwaukee Early Care.
Office of Performance and Quality Assurance: Includes the department’s budget office and Bureau of Regional Operations, which oversees the department’s regional offices and is responsible for oversight of county human services programs.
Office of Legal Counsel
Office of Tribal Relations

References

External links

Official website

State of Wisconsin

Madison (capital)

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Regions	Apostle Islands Central Plain Central Wisconsin Chippewa Valley Door Peninsula Driftless Area Eastern Ridges and Lowlands Fox River Valley Great River Road Lake Superior Lowland Northern Highland Western Upland

Major metropolitan areas (pop. over 500,000)	Chicago metropolitan area Madison metropolitan area Milwaukee metropolitan area Twin Cities metropolitan area

Largest cities (pop. over 50,000)	Appleton Eau Claire Green Bay Janesville Kenosha La Crosse Madison Milwaukee Oshkosh Racine Waukesha West Allis

Smaller cities (pop. 15,000 to 50,000)	Beaver Dam Beloit Brookfield Cudahy De Pere Fitchburg Fond du Lac Franklin Greenfield Hudson Kaukauna Manitowoc Marshfield Menasha Menomonie Mequon Middleton Muskego Neenah New Berlin Oak Creek Oconomowoc Onalaska River Falls Sheboygan South Milwaukee Stevens Point Sun Prairie Superior Watertown Wausau Wauwatosa West Bend Wisconsin Rapids

Largest villages (pop. over 15,000)	Allouez Ashwaubenon Caledonia Germantown Howard Menomonee Falls Mount Pleasant Pleasant Prairie

Counties	Adams Ashland Barron Bayfield Brown Buffalo Burnett Calumet Chippewa Clark Columbia Crawford Dane Dodge Door Douglas Dunn Eau Claire Florence Fond du Lac Forest Grant Green Green Lake Iowa Iron Jackson Jefferson Juneau Kenosha Kewaunee La Crosse Lafayette Langlade Lincoln Manitowoc Marathon Marinette Marquette Menominee Milwaukee Monroe Oconto Oneida Outagamie Ozaukee Pepin Pierce Polk Portage Price Racine Richland Rock Rusk Sauk Sawyer Shawano Sheboygan St. Croix Taylor Trempealeau Vernon Vilas Walworth Washburn Washington Waukesha Waupaca Waushara Winnebago Wood

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