On Wednesday, the WI Department of Children and Families (DCF) announced the release of a new strategic plan for improving recruitment and retention of foster parents in Milwaukee County. DCF enlisted the aid of the Utah Foster Care Foundation in preparing the plan. DCF undertook the project as part of a public-private partnership with the Milwaukee-based Child Welfare Philanthropy Group, which provided the resources for the research that went into developing the strategic plan. The Recruitment and Retention Plan for Milwaukee County outlines several strategies for boosting recruitment and retention efforts, including recruiting foster and adoptive parents simultaneously, increasing foster parent payment rates, and public relations efforts aimed at improving the public perception of foster care and adoption.

The release of the plan coincides with publication in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of an article highlighting some of the shortcomings found by the Utah-based researchers in the performance of the Children’s Service Society of Wisconsin, an agency contracted to work with foster families across the state. The article highlights a number of areas in which the agency needs to improve, starting with the fact that foster parents in Milwaukee County “do not feel valued, supported or appreciated” by the agency. The article does point out that some of the problems identified are already being addressed, and notes that the agency is doing some things well. Problems identified range from insensitivity to race and poverty to inadequate training for foster parents to computer system inadequacies.