Community Outreach for Student Engagement

COSE Logo2

Location: Adams County

Program Type: Shared Operations program with Adams County Health & Human Services Department

Program Overview

Community Outreach for Student Engagement is a FREE and voluntary program for Adams County families whose children are not regularly attending school. As an independent agency, we advocate for the student and family with the school and Adams County Health & Human Services. The goal of the program is to help students become engaged in their school and develop regular attendance habits. We have a full-time dedicated advocate who is able to support a family's efforts to have their child(ren) consistently attend and be engaged at school. The program began in January 2022.

Our services include:

  • Assessment to help identify challenges the child is having related to schooling.
  • Connect the family to community supports.
  • Provide parental support and skill-building to address identified needs.
  • Support the child and build skills to be successful at school.

In order to be eligible for services, the family must live in Adams County with student(s) in Kindergarten (age 6) - 8th grade who have three or more unexcused absences in the current semester. Any school that serves an Adams County youth can make a referral to the program.

Program Data

In the first seven months of operation (January - July 2022), the program enrolled eight families into the program that are from four different schools (Adams-Friendship Elementary, Adams-Friendship Middle, Alexander Middle and Wisconsin Dells Middle schools.

We assess 27 risk factors and challenges that families may be facing that impact regular school attendance. The eight families averaged 18 risk factors, with two families having 22 identified factors.

The assessment results demonstrate that there are multiple factors impacting students and their families, which are resulting in a high number of absences from school. Even one factor/area can take time to resolve, but with every student/family having multiple factors, it must be understood that there will not be immediate changes to attendance upon enrollment in COSE.

Although we know that it will take time to address the multitude of issues facing our enrolled families, we did see that 50% of our engaged students saw improvements in their attendance after enrolling in the program.

We will update our program data and outcomes at the conclusion of the 2022 - 2023 school year.

Referral Process

Each school district has designated staff who will make referrals to Adams County Health & Human Services Department. After review, the referrals are then sent to the CW Solutions Community Outreach Coordinator to begin program outreach and enrollment.

If an individual family wishes to enroll in the program, they can contact their local school or reach out to the contacts below.

Contact Information

Adams County Health & Human Services:

Karen Perik, Children and Family Services Supervisor  I  608-33-4390  I This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

CW Solutions Community Outreach Worker:

Kersten McChesney  I 608-472-8347  I  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.