MILWAUKEE – Governor Jim Doyle announced today that he will establish a new Department of Children and Families as of July 2008. The department will help shape the future of children in Wisconsin by ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a nurturing family and community. The Governor also announced that Reggie Bicha, currently the Division Administrator of Children and Family Services at the Department of Health and Family Services, will be the inaugural Secretary of the Department of Children and Families.
“The single most important thing we can do today to ensure a strong, successful future for Wisconsin is to invest in our children and families,” Governor Doyle said. “The new Department of Children and Families will help strengthen families and ensure that Wisconsin children grow up safe, healthy, and successful.”
The new Department of Children and Families will be Wisconsin’s first cabinet agency devoted exclusively to helping and protecting kids and families of the state. It will unify more than 30 services currently divided between the Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) and the Department of Workforce Development (DWD). In creating the new department, Wisconsin will improve outcomes for children and families by providing more seamless, integrated, and family-centered services that are focused on accountability and results.
The new agency will have a budget of over $1 billion and have more than 500 employees in Madison, Milwaukee and around the state. The agency will manage the following services:
· Wisconsin Works
· Wisconsin Shares - Child Care Subsidy Program
· Child Support Enforcement
· Child Welfare and Milwaukee Child Welfare
· Home Visitation
· Foster Care
· Special Needs Adoption
· Kinship Care
· Brighter Futures
· Domestic Abuse
· Child Care Licensing
· Community Service Block Grant
Governor Doyle also announced that he is appointing Reggie Bicha, 38, as Secretary of the Department Children and Families. Bicha will lead the transition process for the new department and will remain in his current role as Administrator of the Division of Children and Family Services until July 1, 2008.
“Reggie Bicha brings experience and profound commitment to this critical task, and I’m pleased that he has accepted this appointment as Secretary of Children and Families,” Governor Doyle said. “There’s no doubt he will be a strong advocate for children across the state in his new role.”
"As a former child welfare social worker, foster parent and educator, I am honored to accept Governor Doyle's appointment as Secretary of the Department of Children and Families,” Bicha said. “Through the establishment of this new department, children and families throughout Wisconsin will have a stronger voice in state government. We will work hard to set a new course for families in our state – a course that assures that every child in Wisconsin has what they need today to be successful tomorrow."
Bicha is currently Division Administrator of Children and Family Services at DHFS and has also served as DHFS Deputy Secretary. Bicha has led the department’s comprehensive review of Bureau of Milwaukee Child Welfare cases, working with community leaders to improve the child welfare system in the city.
Bicha has 15 years of social work experience – 12 of those years were in leadership roles, including serving as the Pierce County Director of Human Services. He also served as Vice-President of the Wisconsin County Human Services Association and Chaired the West Central Wisconsin – Care Management Collaborative, which is a group of nine counties and three private organizations working to develop a public/private managed care system to expand Family Care and serve seniors and people with disabilities. Bicha was also appointed by Governor Doyle to the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board in 2003, and was a foster parent from 1995 to 1998.
