Waukesha County to review options for sheltering troubled juveniles

Sept. 13, 2012
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By Laurel Walker of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 13, 2012 0

Waukesha - A potential change in how Waukesha County provides shelter care for troubled boys and girls isn't going to be proposed in County Executive Dan Vrakas' 2013 budget, but a study of potential agencies that could provide the service is ongoing and could still come before the County Board next year.

Director of Administration Norman A. Cummings said that six viable proposals are under study after the county solicited requests for information from 195 agencies last month. Some of the responses came from agencies that already operate other residential facilities in Waukesha County under contract with the Department of Health and Human Services.

Waukesha County closed its locked unit for court-judged delinquent juvenile girls this year as a way to save money, paying Washington County to house them instead. Cummings said the county expects to continue to keep its locked wing for delinquent boys in operation for now. The Juvenile Court is not part of the search for alternatives.

In surveying other counties, Cummings said Kenosha County, for example, has 20% fewer juveniles in shelter care than Waukesha County yet spends less than half on the service, for which Kenosha County contracts.

"It tells us its worth looking at," he said.

About Laurel Walker
Laurel Walker covered local, school and county government for 20 years -- the last half of that at the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel -- before she was named Waukesha County columnist in 1997. Today she writes about the people, places and events around metropolitan Milwaukee with a broad suburban focus. She was the youngest of nine children raised on a central Wisconsin farm before leaving the nest for journalism studies at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a masters degree at the University of Oregon. She has spent the last half of her life in Waukesha County, where she and her husband raised two sons. Though she has a fondness for life in Waukesha, she eagerly partakes in the culture of the big city to the east and the recreation of the forests to the west. With sons in the arts, she has a special fondness for symphonic music concerts and art museums. She finds peace in a good book at a Northwoods getaway weekend, adventure in family visits to the east and west coasts, and satisfaction in a column well-written that reaches readers.
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