Kids Forward Inc

Programs: The wisconsin council on children and families seeks to ensure that all children, particularly our most vulnerable children, have access to high quality early learning programs. Research has consistently confirmed that children who participate in high quality early learning programs are more likely ready to start school k-12 ready to learn and are more successful in achieving positive long-term outcomes related to graduation, employment, and health. Goals for the early learning work include increasing investments (private and public) in training early learning teachers, providing technical assistance and grants to early childhood programs to improve their ability to provide higher quality services, and supporting the development and monitoring of an effective quality rating and improvement system that helps parents understand the quality of programs they send their children to and provides a framework for making overall improvements in the early learning system in wisconsin.

the wisconsin council on children and families seeks to ensure that all children and adults who need health care have access to affordable health care coverage and services that meets their health care needs. Wisconsin has made progress in prior years in increasing coverage for low-income children and many adults, and wisconsin council on children and families seeks to promote policies and practices that at least maintain, if not expand, that coverage. In 2014, wisconsin council on children and families has been active in educating others about provisions of the affordable care act and opportunities that exist at the state level to ensure coverage for needy children and families in a cost-effective manner for the citizens of the state.

wisconsin council on children and families seeks to ensure that youth are treated through the juvenile court so their developmental needs can be better accounted for throughout the court and rehabilitative process. Research shows that providing developmentally appropriate treatment significantly reduces future criminal activity. Incarcerating youth with adults increases the likelihood they will re-offend more quickly and more seriously. The goals of the justice for wisconsin youth project include returning seventeen-year-olds to the original jurisdiction of the juvenile courts, creating a statutory preference for diverting non-violent juvenile offenders, and requiring data tracking by race and ethnicity of kids waived into adult court.