Unfortunately Wisconsin’s most significant home visiting program is facing a 20% cut in federal funding, resulting in a total funding drop from over $12 million to $10.4 million. The cut in Wisconsin’s Family Foundations Home Visiting program is likely to impact 375 families and to cause cutbacks in home visiting programs, according to the Department of Children and Families. Ironically, it appears that the cut hit Wisconsin harder because our state did so well in drawing down one-time competitive federal grants; but those grants are no longer available.

From my perspective, Wisconsin has developed a strong reputation as a home visiting leader, building a solid foundation that supports 13 programs serving 1,300 families with young children per year in 18 counties and 5 tribes identified as high-risk. The vision has been to grow the home visiting services to serve more of the state.

Only $985,700 in state funds (less than $1 million) support the Family Foundations Home Visiting program, and that state allocation has been stagnant for many years.

The Governor’s Early Childhood Advisory Council (ECAC) recently recommended doubling the number of families with young children served in the Family Foundation Home Visiting programs. With the federal reduction, the ECAC recommendation is all the more urgent. As the ECAC indicated:

“Rigorous studies of high quality home visiting programs that support families with challenges have shown promising outcomes, including:

• Reductions in the number of low-birth weight babies
• Reductions in child abuse and neglect rates by 50 percent
• Improvements in school achievement
• Increases in graduation rates”

Wisconsin should be moving forward, not backward, in home visiting.

Dave Edie
Early Education Policy Analyst