SB 551

Under current law, the Department of Children and Families (DCF) may award

a contract to any person to administer Wisconsin Works (W-2) in a geographical area

set by DCF. The contract must require a W-2 agency to, among other things,

establish a children's services network that provides information about community

resources available to dependent children in a W-2 group. Current law also requires

that, in a county with a population of 500,000 or more, a children's services network

provide a forum for people to communicate with and make recommendations to the

providers of children's services in that area with respect to the delivery of those

services in that area. This bill eliminates the requirement that a W-2 agency

establish a children's services network.

Current law establishes a Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership Council

(council) and requires that two of its members be nominated by a children's services

network established in Milwaukee County and be residents of the W-2 geographical

area that is served by the children's services network. If DCF establishes more than

one W-2 geographical area in Milwaukee County, current law also sets a procedure

for those children's services networks to nominate residents of different geographical

areas to the council in a rotating order of succession. This bill eliminates the

requirement that children's services networks nominate any members of the council

and the related nomination procedures. The bill requires instead that one member

of the council be the Milwaukee County district attorney, and that another member

be the presiding judge of the children's division of the Milwaukee County Circuit

Court.