Wisconsin

Facilities in Wisconsin

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Wisconsin

Wisconsin gives anyone receiving mental health or substance use treatment a statutory set of client rights, with a formal grievance procedure behind them and client rights staff who will write the grievance for you if you ask. That is separate from complaining about the clinician or the facility, and it is the channel most people in a Wisconsin program have never been told exists.

Time limits in Wisconsin: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Three years for assault, battery, false imprisonment and other intentional harm, and three years for negligence and other personal injury. Wis. Stat. § 893.57 (intentional torts); Wis. Stat. § 893.54(1m)(a) (injury to the person)
If it happened before you turned 18: For someone injured as a child, the deadline is the later of the normal three years from the injury or two years after turning 18, which is age 20. Wisconsin's longer deadline for childhood abuse (until age 35) covers sexual abuse only. Wis. Stat. § 893.16(1)-(2)
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain For a county, city, school district or other local government, serve written notice within 120 days of the injury, and file an itemized claim. If the claim is denied, you have six months from the denial notice to sue. For a state employee, serve written notice on the Attorney General within 120 days of the injury. Wis. Stat. § 893.80(1d), (1g) (local governments); Wis. Stat. § 893.82(3) (state officers and employees)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: The civil SOL for CSA claims against perpetrators is age 35. The SOL against other types of defendants is age 20, with a narrow exception for negligent supervision claims against religious organizations for clergy abuse, which have an SOL of age 35. Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking claims is age 20. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM claims is age 20. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Physical abuse of a child can be charged until the victim turns 45 if it caused great bodily harm on purpose. Other physical child abuse, reckless abuse, failing to protect a child, and causing a child mental harm can be charged until the victim turns 26. The normal six years from the offense applies if it ends later. Wis. Stat. § 939.74(2)(c), (2)(cm); Wis. Stat. § 948.03 (physical abuse of a child); § 948.04 (causing mental harm to a child)
Assault: Six years from the offense for felony battery or assault. Misdemeanor battery: three years. Wis. Stat. § 939.74(1)
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for some first-degree CSA felonies, an SOL of age 45 for other CSA felonies, and 3 years from the offense for misdemeanors. Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking is age 45. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM violations is age 45. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Wisconsin Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling and Social Work Examining Board

Multiple professions

A combined board under the Department of Safety and Professional Services covering marriage and family therapists, professional counselors and social workers. DSPS provides the investigators and prosecutors for it, and the board disciplines the licence.

Use this whenA licensed marriage and family therapist, professional counselor or social worker in Wisconsin. Psychologists have their own examining board under the same department.

HowFile a written complaint through the Department's Division of Legal Services and Compliance. Board staff first decide whether it is within their jurisdiction.

Complaints are accepted from clients, employers, colleagues and other agencies alike.

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Wisconsin DHS, residential and community-based care licensing

Licenses and certifies Wisconsin's residential and community-based care providers and takes complaints against them.

Use this whenA licensed residential program.

HowUse the Department's complaint route.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Wisconsin county Child Protective Services

Starts a child protection response. Wisconsin's CPS is state-supervised but county-administered in 71 counties, and state-administered in Milwaukee, so the report goes to the county agency where the child is. An Access worker takes it and decides whether it meets the statutory definition.

Use this whenA child at a Wisconsin program. Anyone can report, to the local CPS agency or to law enforcement.

HowFind the county agency in the Department's directory and call it; the directory also lists after-hours numbers. If the abuse is happening now or is violent, call 911.

Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Wisconsin client rights grievance procedure (DHS 94)

Wisconsin law gives people receiving mental health, substance use or developmental disability services a set of client rights and a formal grievance procedure to enforce them. The provider must have a client rights specialist, and a grievance can be escalated beyond the provider.

Use this whenSomeone in a Wisconsin program whose rights are being breached - restrictions, treatment, how they are being handled day to day - whether or not it amounts to abuse.

HowFile a formal grievance using the sample form, or ask a client rights staff member to write it down for you, which the Department says they will do. There is a published flow chart of the whole procedure.

Disability Rights Wisconsin

Wisconsin's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy. The Department of Health Services names it directly as where to take a disability rights grievance.

Use this whenA Wisconsin program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-928-8778 Direct line 608-308-2648.
More about this body

National reporting channels, and the same list for other states