48.48 Annotation An allegation that the Department of Health and Social Services failed to adopt rules or to exercise supervision over a local social service agency and that those failures led to a deprivation of child custody without due process stated a cause of action for deprivation of civil rights. Roe v. Borup, 500 F. Supp. 127 (1980).

48.48 Annotation The state has ultimate foster care responsibility, and dismissal of a 42 USC 1983 action against the state for civil rights violations by a county agency was not appropriate. Jeanine B. v. Thompson, 877 F. Supp. 1268 (1995).

48.481 48.481 Grants for children’s community programs. From the appropriation under s. 20.437 (1) (bc), the department shall distribute the following grants for children’s community programs:

48.481(1) (1) Foster care placement continuation.

48.481(1)(a) (a) The department shall distribute foster care continuation grants in each fiscal year to counties for the purpose of supplementing payments for the care of an individual who attains age 18 after 1986 and who resided in a home licensed under s. 48.62 for at least 2 years immediately prior to attaining age 18 and, for at least 2 years, received payments for exceptional circumstances in order to avoid institutionalization, as provided under rules promulgated by the department, so that the individual may live in a family home or other noninstitutional situation after attaining age 18. No county may use funds provided under this paragraph to replace funds previously used by the county for this purpose. Beginning in fiscal year 2013-14, a county is eligible to receive funding under this paragraph only if the county received such funding in fiscal year 2012-13.

48.481(1)(b) (b) A county shall evaluate the proposed living arrangement of an individual under par. (a) to determine whether that living arrangement is cost-effective compared to other care reasonably available to the county including other community care as well as institutional care. If the proposed living arrangement is not cost-effective, the county may not use funds distributed under par. (a) for the care of that individual in the proposed living arrangement. A county shall evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the living arrangement of an individual for whom funds are provided under par. (a) at least once every 5 years.

48.481(2) (2) Transition to a successful adulthood. The department shall distribute at least $231,700 in each fiscal year for the purpose of assisting individuals who attain the age of 18 while residing in a foster home, group home, or residential care center for children and youth, in the home of a relative other than a parent, or in a supervised independent living arrangement to make the transition from out-of-home care to a successful adulthood. No county may use funds provided under this subsection to replace funds previously used by the county for this purpose.

48.481 History History: 1999 a. 9, 149; 2003 a. 33; 2007 a. 20 ss. 1117 to 1121; Stats. 2007 s. 48.481; 2009 a. 28; 2013 a. 20, 334; 2015 a. 128; 2019 a. 9.

48.485 48.485 Transfer of Indian children to department for adoption.

48.485(1) (1) If the department accepts guardianship or legal custody or both from a tribal court under s. 48.48 (3m), the department shall seek a permanent adoptive placement for the child or seek to enter into a subsidized guardianship agreement under s. 48.623 (2) with a proposed guardian of the child and petition the court for the appointment of that individual as the guardian of the child under s. 48.977 (2) or under a substantially similar tribal law.

48.485(2) (2) If a permanent adoptive or subsidized guardianship placement is not in progress within 2 years after entry of the termination of parental rights order by the tribal court, the department may petition the tribal court to transfer legal custody or guardianship of the Indian child back to the Indian tribe, except that the department may not petition the tribal court to transfer back to an Indian tribe legal custody or guardianship of an Indian child who was initially taken into custody under s. 48.195 (1m).

48.485 History History: 1989 a. 31; 2005 a. 296; 2009 a. 94; 2013 a. 20; 2023 a. 79.

48.487 48.487 Tribal family services.

48.487(1m) (1m) Tribal family services grants. From the appropriation account under s. 20.437 (1) (js), the department may distribute tribal family services grants to the elected governing bodies of the Indian tribes in this state. An elected governing body that receives a grant under this subsection may expend the grant moneys received for any of the purposes specified in subs. (2), (3) (b), (4m) (b), (5) (b), (6), and (7) as determined by that body.

48.487(2) (2) Adolescent self-sufficiency services. An elected governing body of an Indian tribe may expend moneys from a grant received under sub. (1m) to provide services for adolescent parents. Those services shall emphasize high school graduation and vocational preparation, training, and experience and may be structured so as to strengthen the adolescent parent’s capacity to fulfill parental responsibilities by developing social skills and increasing parenting skills. An Indian tribe that provides those services shall develop a proposed service plan that is approved by the department.

48.487(3) (3) Adolescent pregnancy prevention services.

48.487(3)(a) (a) In this subsection, “high-risk adolescent” means a person who is at least 13 years of age but under the age of 20 and who is at risk of becoming an unmarried parent as an adolescent and of incurring long-term economic dependency on public funds and is characterized by one or more of the following:

48.487(3)(a)1. 1. Low self-esteem.

48.487(3)(a)2. 2. Alcohol or drug abuse.

48.487(3)(a)3. 3. Serious emotional family conflict.

48.487(3)(a)4. 4. Poverty, as a part of a family whose income is below the poverty line, as defined under 42 USC 9902 (2).

48.487(3)(a)5. 5. Low school achievement, as a pupil who is one or more years behind his or her pupil age group in the number of school credits attained or in basic school skill levels.

48.487(3)(a)6. 6. Other significant problems.

48.487(3)(b) (b) An elected governing body of an Indian tribe may expend moneys from a grant received under sub. (1m) to provide pregnancy and parenthood prevention services to high-risk adolescents. Those services shall be structured so as to increase the development of decision-making and communications skills, promote graduation from high school, and expand career and other options and may address needs of adolescents with respect to pregnancy prevention.

48.487(4m) (4m) Adolescent choices projects.

48.487(4m)(a) (a) In this subsection:

48.487(4m)(a)1. 1. “Adolescent” means a person who is at least 10 years of age but under the age of 18.

48.487(4m)(a)2. 2. “Dropout” has the meaning given under s. 118.153 (1) (b).

48.487(4m)(b) (b) An elected governing body of an Indian tribe may expend moneys from a grant received under sub. (1m) to provide information to members of the Indian tribe in order to increase community knowledge about the problems of adolescents and to provide information to and activities for adolescents, particularly female adolescents, in order to enable the adolescents to develop skills with respect to all of the following: