Message from Secretary Bicha

I am very happy to welcome you to the new Department of Children and Families. We are excited and honored to be the first state agency devoted exclusively to promoting the social and economic well-being of Wisconsin's families.

As a husband and father, there have been several occasions when my family has needed support, whether it be finding child care for our young child so my wife and I can work, finding the right school to meet the educational needs of our school aged children, or getting appropriate services for our foster children. We all, at some point in our lives need assistance when we are not able to meet our own needs. Some of us get our support informally through our family and friends and some of us seek out support through public and private agencies. The Department of Children and Families is here to help all families get access to services and support when they need it most.

As Secretary of the new Department of Children and Families, I want to ensure that anytime children and families are involved with us, their lives are getting better as a result. We want children to be safe and nurtured. We want to help families overcome the struggles that limit them to care for their children before they come to the attention of the child protective services or juvenile justice systems. We want all families to have access to affordable, high quality child care. We want to ensure that parents can secure meaningful jobs to adequately support for their families. And we want to work with fathers so that more of them are engaged in meaningful ways in the lives of their children.

In the end, the Department of Children and Families will work to protect children, strengthen families, and build communities.

We hope that you find our new website useful and informative. This is only our starting point. We will work continuously to make our website practical for families who are looking for services and beneficial for our partners who work closely with us to provide those services. We value and appreciate any feedback that you would like to offer on our website. Please email us at dcfweb@wisconsin.gov to give us your comments.

Thank you for visiting the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.