• Wisconsin child welfare laws are meant to ensure children are taken care of in health and well-being.child eating image by jeecis from Fotolia.com
  
  The child welfare program in Wisconsin is operated at the county level, but the laws are supervised and enforced by the Wisconsin Department of Children & Families. Child welfare agents, along with the Wisconsin legislature, work together to create laws that protect the general welfare and well-being of all children and families in the state.
  
  

Neglect

• Any person, whether a guardian or parent, responsible for the care and well-being of a child is expected to make sure the child's basic needs are met. Any parent or guardian who neglects the welfare of a child, through education, food, shelter or health care or any other means may be charged with a crime. The person responsible for the well-being of a child is guilty of neglect if his actions or lack of action contributes to the child's neglect. The state has several options for punishing neglectful guardians ranging from a Class A misdemeanor, to several classes of felonies if bodily harm or death results from neglect. Section 948.20 makes it a Class G felony for any person who leaves a child in an area or situation where the child may be neglected or suffer other harm.
  
  

Physical Abuse

• Physical abuse of a child occurs when the conduct of the parent or guardian creates an unnecessary risk of harm to the child and such conduct shows that the guardian has no regard for the welfare and safety of the child, according to the Wisconsin statutes. The law in Wisconsin does make distinctions between intentional cause of harm and reckless cause of harm to a child. Parents and guardians must also protect the child from any person who intends to cause harm, has caused the child harm or is currently causing the child harm. Parents or guardians may be charged with several classes of felonies for failing to prevent bodily harm to a child in her care. Section 945.03(6) provides parents an exception to these abuse rules: No parent or guardian is guilty of physical abuse simply because he uses prayer as the only means to treat the child for physical abuse or if prayer is used instead of treatment by a physician.
  
  

Unborn Child

• Child welfare laws in Wisconsin also attempt to protect unborn children from harm. Any person who intentionally inflicts bodily harm on an unborn child or the pregnant woman carrying the child is guilty of battery to an unborn child. According to section 940.03, any person who causes the death of an unborn child or the mother while committing another crime is guilty of felony murder, and can serve as much as 15 years in prison. Section 940.04 makes it against the law for any person other than the biological mother to intentionally "destroy the life" of an unborn child. This section also makes it illegal to for someone to cause the death of the mother while attempting to "destroy the life" of her unborn child. This section does not apply to therapeutic or medical abortions provided by a doctor.
  
  

Child Support

• The Wisconsin legislature makes it against the law for any parent or grandparent to fail to pay court-ordered support. Failure to pay child support or grandchild support for 120 days or more may result in charges being brought by a prosecutor. Ignorance may not serve as a defense for failure to pay child or grandchild support. Because this law is for court-ordered support, a person is guilty of failure to pay if he knows or "reasonably should have" known he was ordered to pay support. Each instance of failure to pay for at least 120 days may be brought as a separate charge.