State officials are hoping to encourage more households to open their doors to foster children.
Over 6,500 Wisconsin children are currently living in foster homes. Department of Children and Families Secretary Reggie Bicha says the recently enacted state budget helps improve the quality of their care by providing more financial resources foster families and additional training.
Bicha says the Department is also working on ways to standardize how the system works. He says Wisconsin uses a county-based system currently, which means it does tasks such as recruiting foster families 72 different ways.
Currently, Bicha says there's too much confusion about what it takes to become a foster parent. He says DCF wants to make sure more families know what is required to bring a foster child into their home.
Bicha hopes expanded state efforts will convince more people to take in foster kids.