Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
Quality Service Review 

Results from Quality Service Review, July 2008, (pdf 462 KB, 72 pages)

Results of Quality Service Review, December 2006 (pdf 277.48 KB, 60 pages)

Second QSR Review Completed

From March 3?14, 2008, the BMCW underwent its second Quality Service Review (QSR). The first baseline review was conducted in the fall of 2006. The QSR is part of Wisconsin?s Program Enhancement Plan completed for the federal Children and Family Service Review.

QSR is a qualitative review which drills down to what is really occurring in the case to understand what is working and why. It looks at the impact of services on the children and families receiving them and if the most appropriate and viable services are in place. This process is used in many other states, as well as throughout Wisconsin, to assess quality case management.

The activities of the QSR are comprehensive and included:

• In-depth reviews of 24 cases (185 interviews);

• Review of six adoption cases, which is the first time adoption cases were reviewed in a Wisconsin QSR;

• 33 focus groups with 227 participants;

• Debriefing on the findings of the case reviews;

• Feedback from case workers and supervisors;

• Identification of recurring patterns/lessons in cases;

• Written case summaries;

• Summation and discussion; and

• Action planning.

Focus groups involved those who interface with the BMCW, including court officials, birth and foster parents, service providers, health professionals, and many others.
The preliminary findings of the QSR were presented to staff who had family cases in the review sample on March 14, 2008. The full report will be presented at a later date

Among 26 strengths listed in the preliminary QSR report are: 

• The new training teams and mentors are helping new staff develop skills;

• Guardianship as a permanency option is helping with permanency goals; 

• Communication within the BMCW and other partners has improved; 

• The Safety Service program is recognized by the community as valuable; and 

• There is more attention to child visits with parents and siblings. 

Among the challenges identified by the report is limited resources in the community, including: 

• Affordable housing for families;

• Supervised visiting agencies that are in locations easily accessible to parents; Insufficient number of child psychiatrists; 

• Difficulties locating mentors for children; and 

• A shortage of quality placement options. 

Practice challenges identified include many things the BMCW has been working on. Some of these are: 

• Placement stability;

•  Participation of providers at CST meetings; 

• The involvement of fathers;

• The length of stay of youth in assessment homes; and 

• A unified planning process between IA and Safety Services.

The BMCW's response to the QSRand action steps will be available on the web site when complete..

Contact the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare Last Revised: August 19, 2008