MADISON — For the first time, a state agency is working exclusively on issues related to children and families.

Its director, 39-year-old La Crosse native and foster parent Reggie Bicha, has a number of goals for the department created in the biggest realignment of state services since the mid-1990s.
The Legislature created the new Department of Children and Families, which started in July, by reallocating staff and money. There were no new hires or tax increases.

Bicha talked to The Associated Press about his goals for the department, challenges facing Wisconsin families, and how he intends to meet them in the coming year.

AP: What is the mission of the new Department of Children and Families?

Bicha: It’s the first cabinet-level agency whose exclusive focus is on the social and

economic well-being of Wis-consin’s children and families. What that really means is that the governor wanted to create an agency whose sole focus was making sure that Wisconsin’s children have support and resources they need to be successful in life.

AP: What is the biggest challenge children in Wisconsin face and what role do you think the government should play in addressing that?

Bicha: There’s different answers for different kids across the state, but some of the major concerns that we see: We know that all kids regardless of where they live need to be healthy. ... We want to make sure that we’re working with parents to make sure kids have access to health care. We know that all kids to be successful need a strong education. ... We want to make sure that more kids have access to high quality, early care in education. ... We want to make sure that all kids are safe from abuse and neglect. ... And we also want to make sure that children have the ability to develop and engage in meaningful relationships with their fathers.

AP: How do you intend to do that?

Bicha: One of the things that we’re doing is creating a new fatherhood initiative office. We need to begin to focus on the important role that fathers play and have some folks that are thinking full-time about how do we better support fathers? We know that dads who have healthy relationships with their kids, when they’re required to pay child support, are more likely to pay child support than dads who don’t have relationships with their kids. So it makes sense that we would want to promote, through the child support program, healthy relationships when it’s safe and appropriate with those fathers.

AP: The department’s Web site allows people to search for licensed child care facilities and view their history of compliance with state rules. How much use is that getting and what kind of feedback have you received?

Bicha: It’s getting considerable use, and we are still working to try to get the word out to parents to know this new tool is available. ... We’re actually getting very positive feedback from folks. ... We hope to refine it over time and make it an even stronger tool for parents who are looking to find high quality child care for their kids.

AP: The department received no new funding when it was created. Does it need additional funding?

Bicha: What the governor’s goal has been for us is to take existing resources in state government, redeploy them in new ways with a new mission, new policy direction, a new agenda that will result in better outcomes for our kids and families. We plan to do that in a number of ways. First of all, we need to streamline government. There are still too many regulations, barriers, administrative costs, overhead in general bureaucracy that get in the way of families getting the right service at

the right time in the right way. ... We want to look at a different way to administer the programs through the various providers who serve kids and families around the state so we can focus on better outcomes for kids using existing resources.

AP: How would you define a successful first year for the department? What needs to happen?

Bicha: The first thing we want to do is make sure that we have a smooth transition. ... Another thing that we want to accomplish is to make sure that we’re able to put a greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention. Too often in this state, kids actually have to be harmed or maltreated before they get the assistance that they need. We’d like to change that approach by putting new resources to prevent and intervene early for kids who are at risk.

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