Institute for Child and Family Well-Being

08/21/2026

Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) initiative members have tried to use a project management website as their home base. But the website came with drawbacks that limited members' ability to connect with one another. They needed a way to see the network and connect with people across interests.

So, we built a custom platform to serve as SFTCCC's new operational hub! Now members have a real directory. They can find who's who by pathway, county, and area of interest, and reach out to them directly. They still have a place to share resources, to store collab work product and schedule network events.

If you're an SFTCCC member or want to become one:
1. Use the URL to register for the new hub!
https://lnkd.in/gv6NqGJV
2. Complete your profile once approved
3. Join which pathway(s) you're working in or most interested in.

See you soon!

07/31/2026

What's a third place?

A place that is neither home nor work/school. It is a place that is accessible, comfortable and low to no cost. The main activities are playful, relaxed and conversational. People can go alone and arrive amongst acquaintances.

Social connection can be a big challenge during summer months for youth. Bay Area Rural Transit helps teens get and stay connected to their crucial social connections during the summer.

Does your area have a way for people without cars to go places that support social connection?


YMCA of the Northwoods - Flambeau River YMCA
My Price County / My Northern Wisconsin

06/25/2026

Thank you to our panelists at last month's Reimagining Mandated Reporting Convening! Hearing from CPS leaders and Access managers from across the state on how they work with their teams on consulting with mandated reporters to better support families was inspiring!

Children's Wisconsin Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Children's Wisconsin - Eau Claire Office Wellpoint Care Network Children’s Wisconsin - Northwoods Offices Children's Bureau

06/19/2026

The way we make sense of our work affects how we care for ourselves, build strong teams, and support families. The perspectives we bring play an important role in shaping workforce wellbeing and belonging.

Join the Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) initiative for a virtual convening on mental models in the child and family well-being workforce.

Our mental models are the lenses through which we understand the world. We'll reflect on how mental models influence how we approach our roles and team dynamics. Together, we'll explore how reframing these lenses can help create stronger connections and a healthier work environment.

Register here: https://chwi.zoom.us/meeting/register/TU9WosQdQ3a3z7GS6ae3ew #/registration

06/18/2026

If you're new to Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC), register here: https://chwi.zoom.us/meeting/register/zRCgok-1TLGEuxtuMqr-7g

Quick catch up: Strong Families, Thriving Children, Connected Communities (SFTCCC) is a statewide systems change initiative that empowers changemakers to reimagine how we strengthen families. 1. Focused on economic stability, social connectedness and cross-sector collaboration. 2. Powered by lived experience and continuous learning. 3. SFTCCC brings people together to lead change from the ground up.

Changemakers in SFTCCC are interested in promoting:
-Economic stability
-Social connectedness
-Field Innovation & Inclusion
-Community Collaboration

Like, share and follow for more.

Children's Wisconsin Children's Wisconsin - Eau Claire Office Children’s Wisconsin - Northwoods Offices Wellpoint Care Network Lutheran Social Services of WI & Upper MI Wisconsin Community Action Program Association Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

06/03/2026

05/20/2026

As we have reached our final episode of season 4, I keep coming back to the simple question I've asked throughout this season: What stories shape how we see the world, and how can we tell them differently?

We've spent this season exploring that question from every angle. We've heard how dominant narratives get stuck in the past; how poverty became neglect in federal law, how the "monster" frame lets society off the hook, how mandated reporting leads to surveillance instead of support.

We've learned that narratives aren't just stories we tell, they're patterns in our thinking. They're the invisible architecture that shapes how we see families in crisis, how we design our systems, and what we believe is possible.

And we've heard from people doing the hard work of changing those narratives: Rinku Sen, learning from social justice movements. Dr. Pegah Faed, building community pathways to support instead of child welfare investigations. Desmond Meade, Pardeep Singh Kaleka and Claudia Rowe, refusing the "monster" and enemy narratives to instead dig into complexity and build relationships across divides.

So, how do we actually do this? How do we move from harmful narratives to constructive ones? How do we measure whether it's working? And most importantly, how do we maintain hope when the work is slow, when we face backsliding, when the dominant narratives feel overwhelming?

Today, Jessica Moyer from the FrameWorks Institute returns to help us synthesize so much of what we've learned this season from so many narrative changemakers and chart a path forward. Because if narrative change is about tilling the soil, preparing the ground for new ways of thinking to grow, then we need to understand exactly what we're planting and how to tend it.

Jess has been our guide throughout this season, helping us understand the mechanics of how narratives work. Today, she helps us move from diagnosis to action. From understanding what's broken to building what could be.

This is episode 14: Offering Up a Positive Vision. https://overloaded-understanding-neglect.simplecast.com/episodes/offering-up-a-positive-vision-with-jessica-moyer

Subscribe and listen wherever you follow your podcasts.

Children's Wisconsin University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Helen Bader School of Social Welfare Casey Family Programs Radio Milwaukee Tarik Jelani Moody Brightpoint IL Institute for Family Waypoint Children's Home Society of NC Luke Waldo Nathan J. Fink Prevent Child Abuse America Desmond Meade

05/12/2026

84% of Wisconsin neglect cases last year were unsubstantiated.

75% of those families were already getting public assistance.

The barrier isn't bad parents. It isn't even bad data. It's the script we're using when the old narrative shows up in the room.

We built a training for anyone working to change that conversation. Free. Virtual. June 3rd.

Swipe to see what you'll learn. Link in bio to register.
https://chwi.zoom.us/meeting/register/dQ8s0xtHR1y9DZ0vAugXsw

05/06/2026

Last episode, we explored how media either reinforces or challenges dominant narratives. We heard about the responsibility of journalism and the media to move beyond the monster narrative and report with context rather than just crisis. But what happens when you're living inside that story, when the headlines are about your father's murder, your community's trauma, your faith being erased?

Today, we welcome Pardeep Singh Kaleka, clinical director at Mental Health America of Wisconsin and co-author of The Gift of Our Wounds. On August 5, 2012, a white supremacist murdered seven people at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek, including Pardeep's father, the deadliest hate crime in a house of worship in nearly 50 years. The dominant narrative was simple and dangerous: an isolated act by an evil man, a monster.

But Pardeep knew that if violence has no roots, then healing has no path. Three years later, he gave a TEDx talk titled "Monster" that refused to let the narrative give society an excuse.

Pardeep has told his story many times, but I wanted to bring him on to explore it through the lens of narratives and their impacts. How do we challenge narratives that erase communities? How do we refuse the monster frame without excusing harm? And in our algorithmically sliced world, how do we create genuine contact across difference? Pardeep reminds us that we're all just walking each other home if we're willing to show up with curiosity, vulnerability, and grace.

This is episode 12, "Walking Each Other Home: Narrative Disruption Through Authentic Relationships". https://overloaded-understanding-neglect.simplecast.com/episodes/walking-each-other-home-narrative-disruption-through-authentic-relationships-with-pardeep-singh-kaleka

Subscribe and listen wherever you follow your podcasts.

Children's Wisconsin UWM Helen Bader School of Social Welfare Casey Family Programs Mental Health America Prevent Child Abuse America Brightpoint IL TED Nathan J. Fink Luke Waldo

04/29/2026

Spring 2020: the world shut down. Schools closed, families sheltered in place, and a narrative began to spread through newsrooms across the country.
Children were unsafe at home, without teachers watching, without mandated reporters, abuse would become invisible. It was a narrative born of genuine concern, but it was also an... “alarmist media narrative.” And it was doing harm.

But what happens when the people who know better - child welfare experts, advocates, people with lived experience - decide they're not going to let that narrative stand? What happens when they don't just push back but build something new? And what happens when they track, measure, and actually change how the media tells stories about families?

This is Episode 11: Changing the Story. Today, we're exploring how journalism and media both create and challenge narratives; how a network of experts and advocates came together to confront harmful media narratives about children and families; how they built strategies that actually work; and how counter-narratives aren't just responses, they're architecture.
Subscribe and listen wherever you follow your podcasts. https://overloaded-understanding-neglect.simplecast.com/episodes/changing-the-story

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