Doyle pleased with foster care task force accomplishments but vows to continue

The Wisconsin state task force on foster care which was co-chaired by Democratic State Rep. Steve Doyle of Onalaska has completed it’s time, after sending in their final report last week.

The 11 bills that passed in the last session were bipartisan and almost unanimous in nature.

Doyle says however the work is far from finished

“When you look at the issues that kids in our child welfare system face, one task force, one report, and 11 bills are a nice start, but they’re not the end.”

Doyle points to the opioid issue and mental health crisis that makes the protection of the child more complicated.

Doyle said, “The classic example is a parent makes some progress so the child is returned. Then they slip up again and the child goes back into foster care. It goes back and forth. We need to have a better system for giving kids some stability.”

The bills passed by the legislature were bipartisan in nature and almost unanimous in some cases. Doyle doesn’t think credit should go to folks in Madison though.

“None of these ideas came from us. We got the input from people in the system. Social workers, foster parents, human services people, they were able to tell us what they saw, and what they thought could be a solution.”

Several public hearings were held around the state, including in La Crosse.