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Early Childhood Profile

 OverviewHealth and Nutrition

State policies that promote health, education, and strong families can help the early development and school readiness of America's youngest citizens. This profile highlights Wisconsin's policy choices alongside other contextual data related to the well-being of young children.

Recent Developments1

The child care subsidy program received an additional $69 million in the 2007-09 biennial budget, plus an additional $18.6 million in the 2008 budget adjustment bill, for a total of $87.6 million over the biennium. Wisconsin’s Governor created the new Department of Children and Families at the end of 2007. The department includes child care subsidy, licensing, and quality initiatives, as well as child welfare and income maintenance (TANF) programs.

  • Young children (under age 6)2: 428,623
  • Infants and toddlers (under age 3)2: 212,630
Young children by income, 2007

Young children by income, 20072

Young children by race/ethnicity, 2007

Young children by race/ethnicity, 20072


Exposure to multiple risk factors* among young children, 2007

Exposure to multiple risk factors* among young children, 20073

Young children in single-parent families, 2007

Young children in single-parent families, 20072

Young children in linguistically isolated households, 2007

Young children in linguistically isolated households, 20073


 Health and Nutrition

Data Notes and Sources

Last Updated: October 8, 2008

Send us recent developments to update your state's profile.

  1. The trends and recent developments come from personal communications with state advocates, administrators, and policymakers. The following publications were also consulted:
    Donna Cohen Ross, Aleya Horn, and Caryn Marks, Health Coverage for Children and Families in Medicaid and SCHIP: State Efforts Face New Hurdles: A 50-State Update on Eligibility Rules, Enrollment and Renewal Procedures, and Cost-Sharing Practices in Medicaid and SCHIP in 2008, Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, January 2008 http://www.kff.org (accessed April 11, 2008).
    W. Steven Barnett, Jason Hustedt, Allison Friedman, Judi Stevenson Boyd, and Pat Ainsworth, The State of Preschool 2007, National Institute for Early Education Research, 2007.
    Karen Schulman and Helen Blank, State Child Care Assistance Policies 2007: Some Steps Forward, More Progress Needed, National Women's Law Center, September 2007.
    National Center for Children in Poverty, Map and Track State Initiatives for Young Children and Families, 2000 Edition, 2000
    National Conference of State Legislatures, Child Care and Early Education Legislation Highlights 2005, June 2006
    National Conference of State Legislatures, Child Care and Early Education Legislation Highlights 2006, unpublished draft
    National Governors Association, Front and Center education articles, 2006, http://www.nga.org
    ZERO TO THREE, The Baby Monitor, 2006 Policy and Advocacy News Archive, http://www.zerotothree.org
  2. State data were calculated from the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (the March supplement) of the Current Population Survey from 2006, 2007, and 2008, representing information from calendar years 2005, 2006, and 2007. NCCP averaged three years of data because of small sample sizes in less populated states. The national data were calculated from the 2008 data, representing information from the previous calendar year.
  3. National and state data were calculated from the 2007 American Community Survey.