The Wisconsin Individual Family Education Program
In The Fatherhood Mandate’s alternative universe, the WIFE program was established in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
When the Wisconsin state legislature failed to convene to create a pathway to repeal or replace the 1849 criminal ban on abortion, the state began to see a rise in the birth rate. The immediate impacts were felt in southeastern Wisconsin due to population density. Minority advocates expected to see highest impact to be on the poor, especially in the African-American and Latino communities.
Due to legislative inaction, the legal question of abortion remained in place until the 2024 election. In response to retaining a veto-proof supermajority in both Assembly and the Senate, Republicans replaced the 1849 abortion bill with one that declared life began at conception and outlawed abortion if the pregnancy was viable. This included pregnancies due to rape or incest. Once a fetal heartbeat was detected, there were very few options available to protect the life of the mother.
Additional legislation swiftly followed. By early 2025, the legal age of ‘adult’ was standardized to occur at age twenty-one. Legally, anyone under the age of twenty-one was no longer allowed to vote in local or state elections, or allowed alcoholic beverages, to purchase tobacco or CBD products, or even marry without parental consent. The legal age of consent was raised from age sixteen to eighteen.
In response, Resilience In Society's Evolution (RISE), a social justice organization, created a pilot program called the Wisconsin Individual Family Education program. It was designed to support unmarried teens in Milwaukee and Racine counties by connecting them with community-based resources. It also sought to provide critical mentoring for at-risk young men who might not have the support they needed to become fathers.
Wisconsin’s birth rate began to increase, straining an already shaky healthcare system due to a shortage of gynecologists. The impact was significantly felt outside of the Milwaukee and Madison areas, including in Green Bay, Appleton, Wausau and Eau Claire. More fathers found themselves taken to court for child support, but as this only covered a fraction of the cost of raising a child, the number of fatherless families applying for FoodShare Wisconsin and other state support programs dramatically increased.
The success of the WIFE program came as the state legislature considered—and rejected— various tax measures in response to the increased pressure on the state budget. In 2027, State Assemblywoman Karen Anderson sponsored a bill that greatly expanded the WIFE program by making it mandatory for unmarried couples under most circumstances. This included couples that were in the process of divorcing and those that were pursuing adoption after their child was born.
In late 2028, an educational awareness video series was produced to help educate the Wisconsin public.
The program was expanded to provide unmarried couples a solid foundations for their children’s future:
Standardize parenthood training. This utilized a number of local, community-based programs to ensure that all counties were able to provide this essential service. Program sponsors were encouraged to provide a mix of classroom-based and remote learning to ensure completion.
Automatically enroll all program participants in BadgerCare to ensure that maternal care, including post-natal, was standardized across the entire state. The stated goal for this was to reduce maternal death.
Mandatory mentorship meetings for both birth mothers and birth fathers.
Working with an advisor to create working financial plan to support their child. This includes creating and implementing a budget (solo or combined), educational opportunities for each parent, and an overview of basic investment and savings plans for the future.
Barring charges of rape or domestic abuse, program participants were required to live together from the third trimester through the child’s sixth month. This was designed to enhance the child’s emotional well-being and, perhaps, build a bridge to a long lasting parental relationship.
Negotiating post-birth financial and child placement arrangements.
Annual appointments with the child’s guardian ad litem to negotiate financial and child placement arrangements, as needed.
