Wisconsin

Wisconsin Welfare System

To advance the well-being of low-income mothers and their children, Wisconsin state government, along with the federal government, has established a multi-pronged public assistance system. The Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant (MCH), a federal program devoted to improving the health of women and children, is a prime example. Through closely working with local health departments and community-based organizations, the MCH aims to promote comprehensive primary care for children and assure poor mothers' access to preconception, pregnancy testing, and family planning/reproductive health services. In 2007, the

MCH in Wisconsin spent $25,810,019 in reaching these goals. In the same year, the MCH served 6,032 pregnant women, 71,720 infants aged 1 year or younger, 38,872 children, and 2,465 children with special health care needs.

Despite these achievements, the recent welfare reform in Wisconsin also caused some problems. The number and percent of single-mother families that are extremely poor have sharply increased as the income/poverty ratios among these families have become more unequal.

Wisconsin has several restrictions on abortion: minors must have parental consent, a woman must receive state-directed counseling and wait 24 hours before having the procedure, and public funding is only available for abortion to save the mother's life or health or in cases of rape or incest. In 2005, the abortion rate was 19.4 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, and 10 percent of pregnancies ended in abortion.

With regard to divorce, Wisconsin has witnessed some fluctuations over the past century. In 1920, there were only 0.9 divorces per 1,000 population in Wisconsin. The divorce rate reached its peak in the early 1980s and remained around three divorces per 1,000 population in the following two decades. Over the years, divorce has affected a large number of children in Wisconsin. In 2008, 53 percent of all Wisconsin divorces involved families with children under 18 years of age; among these divorces, an average of 1.8 children were affected by each divorce.

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