- Milwaukee child welfare system can learn from Pittsburgh area, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “‘It takes a village to raise a child.’ That line is repeated over and over by child welfare advocates across the country. But officials in Allegheny County, Pa., have done more than just talk. They have spent the past 13 years building that village one neighborhood at a time. ‘The first step has to be: Your child welfare agency has to build trust. You’ve got to prove you’re not simply there to take people’s kids away. Then people will be more prone to get on board and band together,’ said Richard Wexler, executive director of the Virginia-based National Coalition for Child Protection Reform. Because Allegheny County – which includes Pittsburgh – has achieved that goal, the county’s child welfare system has transformed ‘from a national disgrace to a national model,’ Wexler often says. As the State of Wisconsin works to reform the Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare with a focus on prevention, Pittsburgh holds lessons for how to implement effective reforms. Although the number of children in out-of-home care in Milwaukee County has dropped dramatically since the state took over child welfare in 1998, Milwaukee’s rate of removal remains relatively high, experts say…”
- $15 million computer system makes agency more accountable, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Eleven years ago, the computer systems used by Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services were a mess. Ninety-six different applications couldn’t ‘talk’ to each other. Workers didn’t know how to find information in any of them. Clients were entered into the systems multiple times, so officials couldn’t figure out anything about the people they served – or even how many there were…”
- Youth support partners have learned from experience, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Ashley Hartman was raped by her best friend’s brother when she was 13. She dropped out of school, so child welfare officials came to the house where she lived with her drug-addicted father. A year later, now a ward of the state, Hartman was addicted to drugs and living in a shelter for teens when she got pregnant – with twins. The babies’ father was 21. Today, at 19, Hartman is a high school graduate, living on her own and raising her daughters. She works full time for the Allegheny County Department of Human Services. Her job is to help other teens survive the child welfare system…”
- Support centers give families a place to interact, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Christine Hyatt walked to the Hilltop Family Care Connection center to pick up baby formula through the federal Women, Infants and Children program. While she was there, one of the workers told her about a free play group for her 1-year-old daughter, Kaitlyn Kotvas. Now, Hyatt and Kaitlyn come to the group every week. Hyatt, 24 and pregnant with her second child, also attends a new moms support group and an early-literacy program that provides her family with free books…”
- Program empowers families to make decisions, By Gina Barton, December 14, 2009, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “When 14-year-old Lavante was shot and left a quadriplegic, his family started falling apart. His mother couldn’t eat, and her health declined to the point where she couldn’t get to the rehabilitation hospital to see her son. His father stopped at a bar every night after work. His three teenage siblings ran wild. To make matters worse, Lavante’s doctors called in a neglect complaint to Allegheny County’s Office of Children, Youth and Families. Lavante’s mother wasn’t visiting enough, they said. Further, they thought she was illiterate and were concerned about whether she would be able to care for her son…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty