Wisconsin

Context Data | Outcomes Data | State Comment | Federal Comment

Wisconsin [ Context Data ]

A. Context Statistics

General Child Population (Census Bureau)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total children under 18 years	1,363,806	1,340,823	1,340,121	1,332,894
Race/Ethnicity (%)1
Alaska Native/American Indian	1.1	1.1	1.1	1.1
Asian	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.7
Black (non-Hispanic)	8.3	8.5	8.0	8.1
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	0.0	<.1	<.1	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	5.5	5.6	5.4	5.6
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4	80.1	81.0	80.6
Two or more races	2.0	2.0	1.8	1.9
% Child population in poverty	13.8	12.0	12.1	15.4

Child Welfare Summary	2000	2001	2002	2003
Child maltreatment victims2	12,120	11,917	11,628	10,174
Children in foster care on 9/30	10,504	9,497	8,744	7,824
Children adopted	736	754	1,028	1,187

B. Child Maltreatment Data [National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)]

	2000		2001		2002		2003
Overview Maltreatment Information	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate	Number	Rate
Children subject of an investigated report alleging child maltreatment	38,021	27.9 per 1,000	40,216	30.0 per 1,000	42,087	31.4 per 1,000	41,377	31.0 per 1,000
Total child maltreatment victims3	12,120	8.9 per 1,000	11,917	8.9 per 1,000	11,628	8.7 per 1,000	10,174	7.6 per 1,000
Child fatalities	10	0.7 per 100,000	17	1.3 per 100,000	14	1.0 per 100,000	12	0.9 per 100,000

1 Race/ethnicity data for 2001, 2002, and 2003 represent population estimates. Back
2 A child victim is defined as a child who is the subject of a substantiated or indicated maltreatment report. Back
3 Children with more than one report of substantiated or indicated maltreatment may be counted more than once. Back

Age of Child Victims (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
<1 year	5.6	5.7	6.1	6.2
1-5 years	24.7	24.2	22.7	23.0
6-10 years	26.1	26.1	25.1	24.1
11-15 years	35.1	35.3	37.7	37.6
16+ years	8.0	8.1	7.9	8.3
Unknown	0.5	0.7	0.6	0.7
Number	12,120	11,917	11,628	10,174

Race/Ethnicity of Child Victims (%)4	2000	2001	2002	2003
Alaska Native/American Indian	2.8	2.8	3.3	3.1
Asian	2.0	2.1	1.8	1.3
Black (non-Hispanic)	19.3	18.0	18.9	21.0
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	5.2	5.9	4.5	3.2
White (non-Hispanic)	69.4	67.4	67.6	65.0
Two or more races	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Unknown	1.2	3.8	4.0	6.3
Number	12,120	11,917	11,628	10,174

Maltreatment Types of Child Victims (%)5	2000	2001	2002	2003
Emotional abuse	0.4	0.6	0.4	0.3
Medical neglect	0.6	0.4	0.7	0.7
Neglect	27.9	27.4	26.3	25.0
Physical abuse	15.4	15.5	14.5	13.8
Sexual abuse	40.0	38.7	42.2	41.4
Unknown/missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Other	20.3	21.7	21.8	23.1
Number	12,120	11,917	11,628	10,174

4 Percentages may total more than 100 because Hispanics may be counted by Hispanic ethnicity and race. Back
5 Percentages may total more than 100 because children can be victims of more than one type of maltreatment. Back

C. Characteristics of Children in Foster Care [Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS): Foster Care File]

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total Number	8,449	8,389	7,795	7,641	6,001	5,158	5,054	5,010	4,039	4,358	5,186	5,832	10,504	9,497	8,744	7,824
Median length of stay (months)	16.0	17.1	22.5	23.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	6.5	6.7	7.3	9.5	16.5	20.2	21.3	18.3

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
Age (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
<1 year	3.4	2.8	3.1	3.3	8.9	10.1	9.6	10.8	3.6	3.3	2.9	3.0	2.7	3.1	3.1	3.9
1 year	4.7	4.4	3.8	4.4	4.5	4.6	4.8	5.0	3.5	3.8	4.9	4.6	4.3	3.9	4.1	4.3
2 years	4.8	5.0	4.8	4.3	4.2	4.4	4.6	4.5	3.6	4.5	5.1	4.9	5.2	4.6	4.0	4.6
3 years	4.6	4.5	5.1	4.8	4.0	3.5	4.1	3.9	3.6	4.4	5.4	4.6	4.6	4.8	4.5	3.9
4 years	5.0	4.5	4.3	4.8	3.7	3.7	3.8	4.5	3.5	3.7	4.7	5.2	4.6	4.3	4.7	4.8
5 years	5.3	4.7	4.4	4.3	3.9	3.0	3.3	3.7	3.2	3.5	4.5	4.2	4.8	4.3	4.1	4.7
6 years	5.5	5.0	4.8	4.2	3.8	3.4	3.0	3.6	3.7	3.2	4.5	3.9	5.1	4.6	4.2	4.1
7 years	5.8	5.5	5.1	4.5	4.1	3.5	3.1	3.0	3.6	3.5	3.8	4.0	5.5	4.8	4.3	4.1
8 years	5.5	5.5	5.5	5.1	3.8	3.5	3.2	3.4	3.2	3.2	4.6	4.3	5.5	5.3	4.8	4.2
9 years	6.0	5.4	5.7	5.1	3.9	3.3	3.8	3.5	4.1	3.5	4.2	4.1	5.4	5.4	5.0	4.8
10 years	6.5	5.9	5.8	5.6	4.3	4.1	3.8	3.5	3.7	3.4	4.3	4.0	5.8	5.4	5.3	4.9
11 years	5.6	6.4	6.0	5.9	4.5	4.2	4.4	3.6	3.7	3.9	4.0	4.5	6.3	5.8	5.6	5.3
12 years	5.5	5.8	6.7	5.9	4.5	5.3	4.7	5.1	3.8	4.3	4.4	4.9	5.8	6.5	6.1	5.7
13 years	6.0	6.0	6.5	7.1	6.7	7.2	7.2	7.6	5.0	4.7	4.0	5.2	5.9	6.5	7.5	6.7
14 years	6.4	7.0	6.9	7.6	9.1	8.5	9.6	8.5	7.9	6.7	6.0	6.4	7.0	7.1	7.9	8.2
15 years	7.3	7.7	7.7	7.8	11.9	12.1	11.3	11.4	10.7	10.4	8.6	8.6	7.6	8.1	8.3	9.1
16 years	6.8	7.5	7.5	8.3	10.2	11.6	11.1	9.9	13.9	13.3	10.3	9.5	7.5	8.0	8.6	8.3
17 years	4.6	5.4	5.3	5.7	3.7	3.9	4.4	4.0	10.2	9.5	9.0	9.6	5.2	5.8	6.1	6.8
18 years	0.6	0.8	0.8	1.0	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.3	5.0	6.6	4.1	4.1	1.1	1.2	1.5	1.4
19 years	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.2	0.1	<.1	<.1
20 years	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1	0.0	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Missing data	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	0.2	<.1	<.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	<.1	0.1

	In Foster Care on 10/1 FY				Entered Foster Care in FY				Exited Foster Care in FY				In Foster Care on 9/30 FY
Race/Ethnicity (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Alaska Native/American Indian	3.0	2.2	2.1	1.8	3.5	3.6	3.2	3.9	5.1	4.0	3.2	2.8	2.5	2.1	1.8	2.4
Asian	1.1	0.9	0.9	1.2	2.0	2.1	2.2	1.7	2.8	1.9	1.6	1.9	0.9	1.1	1.2	1.1
Black (non-Hispanic)	50.0	53.6	53.6	50.1	30.7	25.3	26.5	25.3	21.3	25.9	29.9	33.7	50.2	50.6	49.3	44.0
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.0	<.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	5.8	6.0	7.3	7.6	5.5	7.0	7.7	8.0	4.4	5.0	7.3	7.5	6.1	7.2	7.6	7.6
White (non-Hispanic)	38.1	34.6	32.9	35.2	55.7	59.4	56.4	55.8	65.2	60.7	53.4	49.4	37.5	36.1	36.5	40.1
Two or more races	2.0	2.6	3.0	3.5	2.3	1.8	2.8	3.5	1.1	1.9	3.6	3.8	2.5	2.7	3.2	3.7
Unknown	<.1	<.1	0.2	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.5	1.0	<.1	0.3	0.4	0.6	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.7
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	0.0	0.4	0.6	0.7	0.0	0.3	0.5	0.3	0.0	<.1	0.1	0.3

D. Characteristics of Children "Waiting for Adoption"6 (AFCARS: Foster Care File)

Waiting for Adoption	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total waiting children	1,038	1,640	1,676	1,715
Numbers of waiting children whose parents' rights have been terminated	782	314	413	630

Age (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
<1 year	1.3	2.2	2.4	3.3
1 year	3.9	3.8	3.4	4.7
2 years	6.6	5.9	3.8	5.8
3 years	7.0	6.3	6.6	5.9
4 years	6.5	6.8	6.1	6.7
5 years	5.7	5.9	5.8	7.2
6 years	7.5	6.0	5.9	6.1
7 years	7.9	7.3	6.2	6.5
8 years	7.9	8.3	7.2	6.1
9 years	7.1	7.7	8.2	6.8
10 years	7.3	8.3	8.0	7.4
11 years	7.4	7.6	7.9	7.3
12 years	6.1	7.0	7.9	7.8
13 years	4.3	5.4	6.6	5.8
14 years	5.0	4.0	5.0	4.5
15 years	3.7	3.0	3.8	4.1
16 years	2.3	2.7	2.4	2.3
17 years	1.6	1.7	2.1	1.2
18 years	0.8	0.1	0.5	0.3
19 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	<.1
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	—	—	—	—

Race/Ethnicity (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Alaska Native/American Indian	3.9	1.7	1.5	1.6
Asian	1.3	0.2	<.1	0.9
Black (non-Hispanic)	33.5	66.6	67.5	59.3
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	<.1	<.1
Hispanic (of any race)	5.5	9.0	8.5	9.4
White (non-Hispanic)	53.1	19.4	18.4	24.0
Two or more races	2.7	3.0	3.6	4.4
Unknown	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.2
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.0

6 There is no Federal definition for a child waiting to be adopted. The definition used in the table above includes children who have a goal of adoption and/or whose parental rights have been terminated. It excludes children 16 years old and older whose parental rights have been terminated and who have a goal of emancipation. A State's own definition may differ from that used here. Furthermore, some numbers in this table may be lower than the numbers reported in the prior Child Welfare Outcomes reports. Only children with terminations prior to the end of the fiscal year of interest are included in the current table. Back

E. Characteristics of Children Adopted (AFCARS: Adoption File)

Adoptions	2000	2001	2002	2003
Total children adopted	736	754	1,028	1,187

Age (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
<1 year	2.7	6.8	6.3	5.4
1 year	7.2	8.5	7.2	7.8
2 years	8.6	9.0	9.0	7.4
3 years	9.4	10.3	8.6	7.5
4 years	8.7	8.2	8.2	9.6
5 years	8.3	7.8	7.9	6.0
6 years	9.4	7.7	7.4	6.8
7 years	8.7	8.1	7.4	6.7
8 years	6.5	6.4	7.4	6.8
9 years	6.0	6.8	6.5	7.8
10 years	6.0	4.9	6.6	5.7
11 years	5.0	4.5	4.7	5.2
12 years	5.3	4.5	3.8	5.1
13 years	2.6	2.3	2.3	4.1
14 years	1.8	1.3	2.9	3.1
15 years	2.2	1.5	1.3	3.0
16 years	1.1	0.9	1.1	1.3
17 years	0.4	0.4	1.2	0.3
18 years	0.3	0.1	0.3	0.2
19 years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
20+ years	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	—	—	—	—

Race/Ethnicity (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Alaska Native/American Indian	4.9	2.8	1.8	2.2
Asian	1.0	0.4	0.3	0.3
Black (non-Hispanic)	38.5	36.5	40.2	43.7
Native Hawaiian/other Pacific Islander	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Hispanic (of any race)	6.5	7.3	7.6	8.0
White (non-Hispanic)	47.8	46.6	44.5	39.9
Two or more races	1.2	6.5	5.7	5.9
Unknown	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

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Wisconsin [ Outcomes Data ]

1. Reduce Recurrence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect (NCANDS)

1.1 Recurrence of Maltreatment Within 6 Months (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Children without a recurrence	—	—	—	—
Children with one or more recurrences	—	—	—	—
Number	—	—	—	—

2. Reduce the Incidence of Child Abuse and/or Neglect in Foster Care (NCANDS and AFCARS: Foster Care File, Jan.-Sept.)

2.1 Maltreatment in Foster Care (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Children maltreated while in foster care	—	—	—	—
Children not maltreated while in foster care	—	—	—	—
Number	—	—	—	—

3. Increase Permanency for Children in Foster Care (AFCARS: Foster Care File)

3.1 Exits of Children from Foster Care (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	12.0	9.6	20.6	22.1
Guardianship	0.4	0.8	1.1	5.6
Reunification	68.7	68.8	62.3	58.0
Other	18.8	20.6	15.4	11.4
Missing data	<.1	0.2	0.5	2.9
Number	4,039	4,358	5,186	5,832

3.2 Exits of Children with a Diagnosed Disability (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	27.0	6.8	25.6	41.9
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.2	1.7
Reunification	51.7	64.7	54.5	39.6
Other	21.3	28.4	19.7	14.7
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.1
Number	1,276	981	1,019	1,304

3.3 Exits of Children Older than Age 12 at Entry into Foster Care (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	0.8	0.5	0.8	1.2
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.4	1.1
Reunification	67.6	67.5	68.5	70.2
Other	31.5	31.9	30.0	22.6
Missing data	0.1	0.1	0.4	5.0
Number	1,865	1,937	1,698	1,796

3.4 Exits to Emancipation (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Children age 12 or younger at entry	16.1	17.3	18.9	18.1
Children older than 12 at entry	78.7	76.8	65.3	71.0
Missing data	5.1	6.0	15.9	10.9
Number	254	336	334	238

3.5 Exits by Race/Ethnicity (%)	Alaska Native/Am. In.				Asian				Black (non-Hispanic)
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	15.6	8.0	6.0	15.2	6.1	7.2	2.4	4.5	17.8	12.3	26.3	26.9
Guardianship	0.0	0.6	0.0	1.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.2	2.3	2.7	10.9
Reunification	70.7	75.6	69.0	61.0	69.6	72.3	85.7	71.4	63.2	63.7	57.4	50.3
Other	13.7	15.9	24.4	19.5	24.3	20.5	11.9	19.6	17.5	21.1	13.3	8.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.6	2.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	4.5	0.3	0.6	0.2	3.9
Number	205	176	168	164	115	83	84	112	859	1,129	1,551	1,966
	Native Hawaiian/Other Pac. Is.				Hispanic (of any race)				White (non-Hispanic)
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	17.4	18.6	20.5	24.1	9.6	7.1	18.1	18.8
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.8	0.9	1.3	9.8	<.1	0.2	0.3	1.5
Reunification	0.0	0.0	0.0	100.0	61.8	61.8	65.1	57.4	70.7	71.4	64.4	63.5
Other	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	18.0	17.7	12.6	7.5	19.6	21.3	17.0	13.6
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.9	0.5	1.1	0.0	0.0	0.1	2.6
Number	0	0	0	2	178	220	381	439	2,635	2,644	2,767	2,879
	Unable to Determine				Two or more Races				Missing Data
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Adoption	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.9	15.9	34.9	35.1	37.3	0.0	0.0	3.7	0.0
Guardianship	0.0	0.0	5.0	11.8	0.0	0.0	1.6	7.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Reunification	0.0	81.8	85.0	82.4	72.7	51.8	42.6	41.8	100.0	91.7	96.3	87.5
Other	100.0	18.2	10.0	0.0	9.1	13.3	11.7	11.8	0.0	8.3	0.0	0.0
Missing data	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.9	2.3	0.0	9.0	1.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	1	11	20	34	44	83	188	220	2	12	27	16

4. Reduce Time to Reunification Without Increasing Re-entry (AFCARS Foster Care File)

4.1 Time to Reunification (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Less than 12 mos.	77.2	70.9	66.5	66.4
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	12.7	14.4	13.4	13.1
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	4.5	5.7	5.3	4.7
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	1.3	2.4	2.4	3.0
48 or more mos.	1.8	2.4	2.6	5.2
Missing data	2.5	4.0	9.8	7.5
Number	2,775	2,998	3,233	3,383

4.2 Children Re-entering Foster Care (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Children entering care for the first time	64.4	66.0	68.4	70.7
Children re-entering care within 12 mos. of a prior episode	21.9	25.5	22.2	21.1
Children re-entering care more than 12 mos. after a prior episode	7.0	8.0	6.2	5.0
Missing data	6.6	0.5	3.2	3.3
Number	6,001	5,158	5,054	5,010

5. Reduce Time in Foster Care to Adoption (AFCARS Foster Care File)

5.1 Time to Adoption (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Less than 12 mos.	8.1	19.1	3.5	6.2
At least 12 mos., but less than 24 mos.	18.4	19.9	6.8	7.6
At least 24 mos., but less than 36 mos.	24.4	10.3	10.5	9.6
At least 36 mos., but less than 48 mos.	16.5	5.7	6.4	10.2
48 or more mos.	31.6	8.4	11.0	17.0
Missing data	1.0	36.6	61.9	49.5
Number	484	418	1,067	1,290

6. Increase Placement Stability (AFCARS Foster Care File)

6.1 Number of Placements by Time in Care (%)	In Care less than 12 Months				In Care at Least 12 Months but less than 24 Months				In Care for 24 Months or Longer				Missing Time in Care
	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003	2000	2001	2002	2003
Children with 2 or fewer placements	94.5	93.8	92.3	92.6	82.3	76.3	73.9	72.4	69.1	71.0	64.6	52.1	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Children with 3 or more placements	5.5	6.2	7.7	7.4	17.7	23.7	26.1	27.6	30.9	29.0	35.4	47.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Number	6,807	5,938	5,741	5,743	2,936	2,696	2,051	2,131	4,695	4,898	5,026	4,752	12	15	31	25

7. Reduce Placements of Young Children in Group Homes or Institutions (AFCARS Foster Care File)

7.1 Most Recent Placement Settings of Children Who Entered Care During the Fiscal Year and Were Age 12 or Younger at the Time of This Placement (%)	2000	2001	2002	2003
Group homes	3.1	5.0	7.3	6.7
Institutions	3.3	3.6	3.5	3.0
Other settings	91.6	91.1	87.8	89.6
Missing data	2.1	0.3	1.4	0.8
Number	3,410	2,896	2,796	2,862

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Wisconsin [ State Comment ]

Burnie Bridge, Administrator
Division of Children and Family Services
Department of Health and Family Services

The following are Wisconsin's comments on the State's data presented in Child Welfare Outcomes 2003: Report to Congress.

The Wisconsin Child Welfare program is primarily county-operated, except for the special needs adoption program and child welfare services in Milwaukee County, which are operated by the state Division of Children and Family Services. While the state fully implemented its SACWIS system in July 2004, some of the data included in the measures presented in this report came from the state's legacy child abuse and neglect and out-of-home care data systems.

Wisconsin continues to report child maltreatment data using the NCANDS Summary Data Component format. As such, the federal Children's Bureau is not able to calculate the state's performance on the measures for Safety Outcomes 1 and 2. Actual state performance on this measure will be possible when the state submits data via the NCANDS Child File format. However, using an alternate methodology approved by the Children's Bureau, estimates on these measures has been derived for the state's performance. The state's results for CY 2002 and CY 2003 on Safety Outcomes 1 and 2 are as follows:

Performance Standards	WI Data CY 2001 (Percent)	WI Data CY 2002 (Percent)	WI Data CY 2003 (Percent)
Safety Outcome 1- Recurrence of Maltreatment	6.99	6.04	7.13
Safety Outcome 1- Maltreatment While in Care	0.61	0.26	0.30

The out-of-home care, or foster care, population serviced in Wisconsin includes children who were placed in out-of-home care under a court order or through a formal voluntary placement agreement. Placement may be due to concerns related to child safety or to status offenses and/or delinquent behaviors that affect the child's ability to remain safely in his or her home. Approximately 65 percent of the FFY 2003 data related to the federal permanency measures is from the state's new SACWIS system. Data from this system represent a more accurate and complete understanding of child placements in Wisconsin.

The adoption data show the total number of finalized adoptions for children with special needs where the adoptive parents receive or may receive Adoption Assistance. Due to the sequencing of SACWIS implementation and data conversion processes, adoption data are incomplete and data quality has negatively affected the number of adoptions that can be used to calculate the state's performance on the Time to Adoption outcome measure. Many adoptions do not show the date of removal from home. This problem will be corrected with the full implementation of SACWIS.

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Wisconsin [ Federal Comment ]

PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

The following is a discussion of Wisconsin's performance on the national outcomes established for the Report to Congress. The discussion focuses on the State's performance in 2003 and on change in performance over time. Change over time was determined by calculating the percent change in performance from 2000 to 2003. A percent change that was less than 5.0 in either direction (i.e., positive or negative) was considered to represent "no change in performance."

Outcome 1. Reduce recurrence of child abuse and/or neglect

Wisconsin's performance with regard to achieving outcome 1 cannot be assessed because the State did not provide 2003 data to the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS) for calculating the measure for this outcome (measure 1.1). To ensure consistency across States, the Report to Congress presents only data submitted through NCANDS.

Outcome 2. Reduce the incidence of child abuse and/or neglect in foster care

Wisconsin's performance with regard to achieving outcome 2 cannot be assessed because the State does not provide data to NCANDS for calculating the measure for this outcome (measure 2.1). To ensure consistency across States, the Report to Congress presents only data submitted through NCANDS.

Outcome 3. Increase permanency for children in foster care

In 2003, 85.7 percent of children exiting foster care in Wisconsin (measure 3.1) were discharged to a permanent home, which is about equal to the national median of 86.3 percent. Also in 2003, 72.5 percent of the children exiting foster care in 2003 who were older than age 12 when they entered foster care (measure 3.3) were discharged to a permanent home, which is about equal to the national median of 72.2 percent. However, 83.2 percent of the children exiting foster care in 2003 who had a diagnosed disability (measure 3.2) were discharged to a permanent home, which exceeds the national median of 79.5 percent.

With regard to ensuring that children emancipated from foster care (either through legal action or because they reach the age of majority) did not spend most of their formative years in foster care, in 2003, 18.1 percent of the children reported as emancipated from foster care entered foster care when they were age 12 or younger (measure 3.4). Although this percent is less than the national median of 29.6 percent, it represents a decline in performance on this measure from 2000 to 2003 (+12.4 percent change).

There were differences with regard to exits to permanency in 2003 as a function of children's race or ethnicity (measure 3.5). (This was assessed only when a particular race or ethnicity accounted for at least 10 percent of the exits from foster care.) White (non-Hispanic) children exiting foster care were less likely to be discharged to a permanent home (83.8 percent) than were Black (non-Hispanic) children exiting foster care (88.7 percent). However, the percent of Black (non-Hispanic) children in the foster care population in 2003 (44.0 percent) was more than five times the percent of Black (non-Hispanic) children in the State's child population (8.1 percent).

Outcome 4. Reduce time in foster care to reunification without increasing re-entry

In 2003, 66.4 percent of reunifications occurred within 12 months of a child's entry into foster care (measure 4.1). This percent not only is less than the national median of 72.0 percent, but also represents a decline in performance on this measure from 2000 to 2003 (-14.0 percent change). In addition, 8.2 percent of reunifications occurred after the child had been in foster care for at least 36 months, which exceeds the national median of 3.5 percent.

With regard to re-entries into foster care, in 2003, 21.1 percent of the children entering foster care were re-entering within 12 months of a prior episode, which exceeds the national median of 9.5 percent (measure 4.2). An additional 5.0 percent of the children entering foster care were entering more than 12 months after a prior foster care episode. Consequently, 26.1 percent of all children entering foster care in 2003 had been in foster care at a prior time.

Outcome 5. Reduce time in foster care to adoption

Wisconsin's performance on this measure cannot be assessed because 49.5 percent of children exiting to adoption did not have "time in foster care" information.

Outcome 6. Increase placement stability

In 2003, 92.6 percent of the children in foster care for less than 12 months experienced no more than two placement settings, which exceeds the national median of 84.2 percent (measure 6.1). Also in 2003, 72.4 percent of the children in foster care for at least 12 months, but less than 24 months, experienced no more than two placement settings, which exceeds the national median of 59.1 percent.

Outcome 7. Reduce placements of young children in group homes and institutions

In 2003, 9.7 percent of the children entering foster care who were age 12 or younger were placed in a group home or institution (measure 7.1). This percent not only exceeds the national median of 8.3 percent, but also represents a decline in performance on this measure from 2000 to 2003 (+51.6 percent change).

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