Wisconsin Department of Children and Families

Overview

The mission of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (DCF) is to promote the economic and social well being of the state’s children and families. It has five goals: 1) to see that children are nurtured, safe, and engaged; 2) to enhance prevention and early intervention efforts throughout Wisconsin; 3) to make sure families have access to quality early care and education; 4) to help parents secure and maintain meaningful jobs; and 5) to assist fathers in being more engaged in the lives of their children. This translates into practical tasks such as inspecting day care centers, monitoring child support payments, helping people find childcare, and stepping in to help children living in abusive homes.

Wisconsin DCF is relatively new, having been created by a governor’s order in 2008. Two existing divisions, one from within the state’s Department of Health Services and one from the Department of Workforce Development, were combined to form the DCF.

Solution

• Steelhead® appliances for optimizing WAN traffic
• VMware for virtualized desktops

“We inherited the child welfare, child care, and child support programs.”

Maytee Aspuro, CIO and IT director

DCF

“The Riverbed Steelhead® appliances performed out of the box.”

Robert Beck, Network Engineer

DCF