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​​​​​Policy and Research​

The Prevention Board is the state agency charged with leading statewide and local efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect. (Wis. Stats. §48.982) 
We dedicate resources to (1) advance evidence-informed legislation, administrative rules, and polices related to prevention child abuse and neglect by working with our partners to embed child maltreatment prevention best practices into our work, and (2) recommend changes to programs, statutes, policies and practices that advance child maltreatment prevention best practices and improve coordination among state agencies that provide prevention services to promote individual, family and community strengths. ​​

Policy Priorities

  • Abusive Head Trauma Prevention: Wisconsin law directs the Prevention Board to provide education on abusive head trauma/shaken baby syndrome. The Prevention Board will initiate 1) expanding the Period of PURPLE Crying program throughout Wisconsin and 2) analyzing Wisconsin law for potential amendments that would reflect current best practices in abusive head trauma prevention. 
  • Child Sexual Abuse Prevention​: The Prevention Board encourages the development and use of evidence-informed child sexual abuse prevention education that promotes adult responsibility for keeping children safe. Completing the Awareness to Action training and strengthening agency policies is a requirement for the FRC of Quality accreditation. 
  • Public Awareness: Universal child maltreatment prevention strategies that include the Five for Families campaign to increase knowledge of the Protective Factors Framework; the Period of PURPLE Crying Dose 3 materials were created to promote awareness and prevent abusive head trauma; and Triple P Level 1, a communications strategy designed to reach a broad cross section of the population with positive parenting information and messages.
  • Parent Education: The Prevention Board will promote evidence-informed parent education programs, including Triple P Positive Parenting Program, an evidence-informed system of parent education with increasing levels of intensity tailored to parent need. 
  • Professional Development:  The Prevention Board supp​orts the use of the Core Competencies for Family Support Professionals and Bringing the Protective Factors Framework to Life in Your Work education for family support professionals.
  • Father Engagement: The Prevention Board collaborates with partners to promote strategies focused on engaging fathers in family strengthening programs and services.  
  • Wisconsin Legislative Children’s Caucus: The Prevention Board provides administrative support to the Children’s Caucus, a bipartisan, bicameral caucus that aims to cultivate a legislature dedicated to advancing promising, evidence-informed public policy to improve the life of every Wisconsin child, from prenatal stages through age 18. ​

Research Focus​

  • Family Resource Centers
    • Family Resource Centers Infrastructure Development: The Prevention Board funded the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute to provide a process evaluation  for a fiscal year 2022 and 2023 pilot of the Family Resource Center Infrastructure Development project. The findings are described in this story map​. The infrastructure development process was initiated with the goal of building capacity within partner organizations to cre​ate a sustainable evaluation framework, system, and tools that will be useful to the partner organizations to better serve children and families. The Family Resource Center Best Practice Model​ describes the attributes and approaches for best practice for a Family Resource Center (FRC) in Wisconsin. ​
    • Strong and Stable Families Study: Phase 1: Strong and Stable Families is a longitudinal study, funded by the Prevention Board and conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Institute for Child and Family Well-being, which aims to explore whether Wisconsin’s FRCs enhance family protective factors and reduce the risk of child abuse and neglect. Strengthening Wisconsin’s Family Resource Centers Issue Brief  describes the findings from the first phase of the study, which included 646 families who participated in programming at one of 18 FRCs and 1,489 families in the general population.
    • Strong and Stable Families Study: Phase 2: The Prevention Board was ​awarded an Advancing Healthier Wisconsin grant​ for the second phase of the Strong and Stable Families research project. The Prevention Board funded the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Institute for Child and Family Well-Being to determine the impact of Wisconsin’s Family Resource Centers on the families they serve.​​