The Family Peace Center (FPC) Outcomes & Evaluation (O&E) Committee is chaired by Dr. Erin Schubert (Sojourner), Dr. Hillary Petska (Children’s WI & Medical College of WI), & Dr. Lynn Sheets (Children’s WI & Medical College of WI) & comprised of representatives from the FPC partner agencies & community partners. The O&E Committee collects data from co-located partner agencies & key community partners. With that data, we compile quarterly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports that give a snapshot of how the center is doing in some important areas. The Q3 2021 KPI report is attached. We report on how things are going within the center (e.g., total number of clients served, referrals received from FPC partners, in purple) as well as community trends related to our work (e.g., DV homicides, child maltreatment, in green). Favorable changes are noted in green & unfavorable changes are in red. Definitions on the third page of the report.

Highlighted findings from Quarter 3 2021 include:

1. This quarter, we see an increase in the number of community presentation and reports partner agencies delivered. These public facing presentations and reports play a vital role in public awareness and understanding of domestic violence, child maltreatment, sexual assault, and human trafficking. We celebrate and appreciate the dedication of FPC agencies in delivering these presentations despite on-going challenges of the pandemic.

2. We also see an increase in the number of employee wellness events and initiatives offered to FPC staff this quarter. Ensuring the well-being of staff is a vital part of ultimately ensuring we have the capacity and resilience to address to needs of traumatized clients. Staff can only give to others what they have themselves and we celebrate FPC agencies for recognizing the importance of staff well-being.

3. We again see a decrease in calls to our domestic violence hotline, despite rising homicides. Rather than indicating a true decrease in violence, the decreased calls may be partially attributable to a 2019 Crime Victim Rights Board privacy recommendation and the 2020 Crime Victims’ Rights Amendment to WI’s constitution (Marsy’s Law) requiring police to ask for victims’ consent to share their information with Sojourner, enabling advocates to offer services following an incident. This law resulted in fewer law enforcement calls to the hotline.

4. On every indicator of child maltreatment we track, we see an increase in child maltreatment this quarter. Severe child maltreatment cases, child maltreatment-related deaths, and reports & screened in cases to Division of Milwaukee Child Protective Services (DMCPS) all increased this quarter. Several factors likely contributed to this rise. The school year began this quarter, with many children returning to in-person instruction for the first time in nearly a year and a half where other adults again have access to these children and have begun making reports of suspected maltreatment. Further, economic pressures on families have meant many mothers who may have been staying home earlier in the pandemic have returned to the workforce, often without access to affordable, high quality childcare options. The absence of a protective caregiver increases risk of violence for infants and toddlers. Finally, increased community violence and other stressors likely diminish the family protective factor of hope.

Sojourner Key Performance Indicators - Quarter 3