The mission of the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being is to improve the lives of children and families with complex challenges by implementing effective programs, conducting cutting-edge research, engaging communities, and promoting systems change.
The Institute for Child and Family Well-Being is a collaboration between Children’s Wisconsin and the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The shared values and strengths of this academic-community partnership are reflected in the Institute’s three core service areas: Program Design and Implementation, Research and Evaluation, and Community Engagement and Systems Change.
In This Issue:
- Meet the ICFW
- Research and Evaluation
- Community Engagement and Systems Change
- Recent and Upcoming Events
Meet the ICFW
Josh Mersky Awarded Prestigious UWM Research Senior Faculty Award
The UWM Research Foundation, in collaboration with the Office of Research, has established the UWM Research Foundation Senior Faculty Awards to recognize researchers who have a long history of significant contributions to their field of research.
ICFW Co-Director Dr. Josh Mersky has been awarded this prestigious award in 2025 for his contributions to research in our field of social work and child and family well-being. Congratulations, Dr. Mersky!
Research and Evaluation
The Institute accelerates the process of translating knowledge into direct practices, programs and policies that promote health and well-being, and provides analytic, data management and grant-writing support.
New ICFW Issue Brief Highlights the Hello Baby Program
All families can benefit from some support after a baby is born. This issue brief (PDF) highlights Hello Baby, a postpartum nurse home visiting program that is widely available to families with a newborn baby in Racine and Walworth Counties. Services are offered to all families regardless of their socioeconomic background, though the level of support they receive varies. This approach ensures that services effectively address each family’s needs and that program resources are allocated efficiently.
Recent ICFW Publications
Janczewski, C. E., Mersky, J. P., & Kaiser, D. (2025). From foster care to incarceration: A prospective analysis of the National Youth in Transition Database. Child Abuse & Neglect, 164, 107469.
Background: Children in foster care often face significant adversity in adulthood, including a heightened risk of incarceration. Yet, it is uncertain whether adult incarceration rates differ between youth who age out of foster care, youth who are reunified with their families, and those adopted or placed with a legal guardian.
Objective: This prospective study investigates the prevalence of adult incarceration for youth in care at age 17 and examines whether the risk of incarceration varies by foster care exit type, both overall and among different racial/ethnic groups.
Read more about this publication.
Community Engagement & Systems Change
The Institute develops community-university partnerships to promote systems change that increases the accessibility of evidence-based and evidence-informed practices.
Building A Vision During Uncertainty
With significant uncertainties related to federal funding for programs that are intended to support overloaded families, we in the field are often tasked with being observers to narratives about ‘waste’, ‘ineffectiveness’, and ‘inefficiencies’. Thankfully, there are many working to advocate for programs, like Medicaid, that support child health, safety, and well-being. What’s clear in these times of uncertainty, is that new solutions for complex challenges related to health, housing, and poverty are going to be left to states and communities.
It’s easy, and understandable, to worry about how potential cuts could impact our lives not only of the families we serve, but also our community of practitioners, social workers, and changemakers in terms of our ability to support the families we serve, but also our own stability and well-being. This adds stress to an already stressful calling. But as those in positions of influence work to sustain critical funding, we also need to cultivate a new vision for the future. We shouldn’t fight for a broken system, but for the key infrastructure that we need to create a better one.
We are entrusted with the stories of the families we serve, we carry them with us, both good and bad, for the rest of our lives. While families may see us as being present in a specific moment, as we nurture and empower them, we must also honor their stories by creating a vision of a system that creates conditions where all families can thrive. While we’re advocating for tools and critical funding, that has absolutely made a difference for families, we must also acknowledge the limitations of the status quo. Beyond acknowledgment, we must honor the family stories we’re entrusted with to learn from them, chart a new vision for how we support families overloaded by stress, and by acting together to make real change happen.
Housing and Its Impacts on Family Economic Stability
By Luke Waldo
Over the past two months, we have hosted virtual convenings focused on housing and its impacts on child and family well-being. Changemakers from Brown, Burnett, Dane, Milwaukee, Portage, Racine counties, and Illinois who represent the child welfare, child maltreatment prevention, domestic violence, housing, professional development, and community navigation and resources fields shared their personal motivation for joining the convening along with programs and resources that have shown promise in supporting overloaded families with housing.
I have kicked off each convening by sharing why the ICFW’s Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities initiative sees housing and economic stability as a critical pathway to its north star of reducing family separations for reasons of neglect.
Through data, research, and case studies on how housing instability intersects with child welfare and family economic stability in Wisconsin, we began our conversation about why we are motivated by this complex challenge.
Over these first two convenings, our growing network of diverse changemakers has identified some critical themes that we will continue to explore.
- Housing Instability’s Impact on Child Welfare Cases
- Many participants noted how housing challenges directly affect child welfare cases, particularly affecting reunification timelines and case complexity.
- Systemic Disconnects in Housing Solutions
- Participants highlighted inconsistencies in how housing assistance is approached across different stages of child welfare involvement.
- Housing as a Complex Resource Issue
- Multiple participants described how difficult securing adequate housing can be, especially for vulnerable populations.
- Poverty vs. Child Safety Dilemma
- Several participants addressed the complicated relationship between poverty, housing instability, and child safety concerns.
- Need for Cross-System Collaboration
- The convening itself represented the goal of bringing different perspectives together to address housing issues.
- Promising Initiatives and Resources Exist
- Multiple promising pilot programs underway (Family Keys, DV Housing First) using flexible funding to prevent family separations due to housing.
Join us to continue the conversation and action at our third convening on Housing and Its Impacts on Family Economic Stability at 2pm on June 2nd, and sign up to join a group of collaborative changemakers through our virtual Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities network here.
Advancing Social Connectedness
In honor of the Global Loneliness Awareness Week starting June 9th, two new interactive tools will be shared in the next few weeks on social media and Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities forums. The tools will be available on our website in the coming months.
- Social Connectedness Toolkit – Because social connectedness is incredibly place-based, the toolkit will have some space to customize to a location or agency. In addition to scalable tools, a brief education on the benefits and features of social connectedness will be included.
- Social Connectedness Jeopardy – Created for people to learn about social connectedness and to elevate a lesson ICFW has long-since learned (games amp up learning), Social Connectedness Jeopardy is a free and fun way to open or wrap up a discussion. Find Social Connectedness Jeopardy here!
If you were to observe Global Loneliness Awareness Week, what might you do? Need ideas? Here’s a few:
The Global Initiative on Loneliness and Connection is hosting a webinar on Poverty & Social Connection on June 10th. Learn more and RSVP here.
Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities will be having a live, virtual meeting on Social Connectedness on June 11th at 12 CST. This meeting is great for people who want to un-silo their work, think creatively and experiment.
What would need to change for you to be more socially connected within the year? If you’re interested in joining a group of collaborative changemakers who are collectively working on that question, join our virtual Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities’ Social Connectedness network here.
Recent and Upcoming Events
The Institute provides training, consultation and technical assistance to help human service agencies implement and replicate best practices. If you are interested in training or technical assistance, please complete our speaker request form.
Upcoming Events
- May 30th – Reimagining Mandated Reporting – Community Collaboration Critical Pathway Virtual Network Convening
- June 2nd – Housing and Its Impacts on Family Economic Stability – Economic Stability Critical Pathway Virtual Network Convening
- June 11th – Advancing Social Connectedness – Social Connectedness Critical Pathway Virtual Network Convening
- August 14th – Building Brains with Relationships Workshops with WCWPDS.
- Building Brains with Relationships Community of Practice. Email mchristian@childrenswi.org for the link to join.
- August 12th-14th – Prevent Child Abuse America’s National Conference – Power of Prevention
- ICFW’s Gabe McGaughey and Luke Waldo will be presenting.
Recent Events
- Overloaded: Understanding Neglect Season 3
- Unpacking Overloaded: A Podcast Discussion Series with Children’s Home Society of America
- February 25th – Episode 1: Why Now? The Urgent Call for a Family-Centered Systems Transformation
- March 26th – Episodes 4&5 – Unlocking the Power of Lived Experience
- Unpacking Overloaded: Expert Series – If you missed it, you can watch the recordings at the links below.