Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
Child Welfare Services
(All external hyperlinks are provided for your
information and for the benefit of the general public. The Department of
Children and Families and the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
does not testify to, sponsor, or endorse the accuracy of the information
provided on externally linked pages.)
The following services are within the legal
jurisdiction of the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare (BMCW). Some are
provided directly by BMCW; others are contracted to the partners listed.
Child welfare services are initiated to provide the immediate protection
of children.
Intake (BMCW)
This service takes referrals on cases of alleged child abuse/neglect
from the public. The (414) 220-SAFE line is answered 24 hours, every
day. Intake workers screen calls and assign a response time before
forwarding the case to one of five sites for assessment. Intake workers
also provide callers with social service resources.
Initial Assessment
(BMCW)
Initial Assessment (IA) staff investigates the referral by visiting the
child at the child's school, home, or other location. If the child is
in imminent danger, he or she will be removed from the home. The Initial
Assessment worker will assess and control for the safety of children by
interviewing the family and others involved with the child and
documenting the case. Services to ensure the safety of the child will be
put into place if a risk of maltreatment is determined. If the referral
is unsubstantiated, the case will be closed.
Safety Services (Children's
Family and Community Partnerships, a subsidiary of
Children's Service Society of Wisconsin; Integrated Family
Services, a subsidiary of St. Aemilian-Lakeside
) Safety Services are provided when an Initial Assessment
determines that the children can remain safely in the home with services
in place that address the safety issues. BMCW's partners provide 18
core services that help families deal with the crisis that may put the
child at risk.
Kinship
Care (Perez-Pena, Ltd.)
Families caring for children of relatives may be eligible to receive
financial assistance. Kinship Care representatives visit the home to
learn why the child is not living with the parent and identify services
needed. BMCW and Perez Pena administer the program for Milwaukee
County.
Ongoing Case Management (Children's
Family and Community Partnerships, a subsidiary of
Children's Service Society of Wisconsin; Integrated Family
Services, a subsidiary of St. Aemilian-Lakeside
) Children in Need of Protection or Services (CHIPS) cases are monitored
by ongoing case managers (OCM) as long as a court order is in place. The
OCM ensures the family receives the services it needs to work toward
reunification or some other form of permanence for the child. The OCM is
responsible for family assessment and permanency planning, as well as for
providing services identified by the court to assist the child and family.
Foster
Care and
Adoption
Licensing, Placement, and Support (Children's
Service Society of Wisconsin) In cases where children may not be safe with their
family of origin,
Children's Court may order the child to be placed in a foster home.
Children's Service Society of Wisconsin licenses foster and adoptive
parents and matches children to families that can meet their specific
needs. Case managers and licensing staff assist the foster family in meeting the needs
the children. When efforts at reunification with the family fail, adoption
may become the best alternative. Between 75% and 80% of children adopted
from Milwaukee County are adopted by the foster
family caring for them. Adoption services include recruiting adoptive parents,
pre-adoption case management, conducting home studies, and matching children with
families.
Foster
care in Wisconsin
Permanency Consultation Services (Children's
Service Society of Wisconsin) Every child deserves a permanent, nurturing, and stable living situation.
Permanency consultants work with the parents and case managers of children
who have been removed from their parental homes to ensure all
options for reaching permanency is examined, involve parents in the
decision-making process, and reach permanence for the child in a timely
manner.
Foster/Adoptive Parent Recruitment (Children's
Service Society of Wisconsin)
BMCW relies on the community to provide homes for children entering foster
care. A team of recruiters works to build awareness of the need for
foster/adoptive families and provides information about the
licensing process.
Staff Development and Foster/Adoptive
Parent Training (Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership for Professional
Development) (Links to training schedule.)
The Helen Bader School of social Welfare at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee partners with BMCW to provide both staff development
and foster parent training.
Family Intervention Support and Services (FISS) (Perez-Pena,
Ltd., Wraparound
Milwaukee) FISS serves adolescents from the ages of 12 to 17 and their families who
approach Juvenile Court to file pro se petitions to declare the minor to
be in need of service and supervision. Perez-Pena, Ltd. assesses the
family's needs. Safe Now, a program of Wraparound Milwaukee, Milwaukee County Department of
Health and Human Services, provides services. The program links the
family to appropriate resources to avoid court intervention.
Independent
Living All youth who have been court-ordered into out-of-home placements for a
minimum of six months, after the age of 15 are eligible for Independent
Living services. These services are provided as part of ongoing case
management. At the age of 18, youths are referred to Lad
Lake Connections Program for assistance in locating housing,
employment, education programs, and other services. They are eligible
for these services until the age of 21.
Contact
the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare
Last Revised:
May 26, 2009
|