The stress on families often threatens to break them apart.  The area has a higher than usual number of parents brought to children’s court to remove a child from the home (the “CHIPS” program).  The rate of cases is five times the county rate.  Many other families participate in a “Safety Services” program to stabilize fragile families. 

Recent and more local data is not currently available, but Milwaukee County trends through 2001 show substantial decreases in cases of abuse or neglect across the state, but less of a decline in Milwaukee County .  In 2001, 2,603 cases of abuse or neglect were substantiated in Milwaukee County .

The programs serving the financial needs of families – TANF – are currently administered by the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.  Currently, more than 2,000 persons in the area are served by TANF programs.   Programs serving the social and family support needs of families are administered by the Department of Health and Family Services. The need for greater coordination between these two departments is one of the issues that will be addressed by the Child Safety strategy.