Wisconsin Shares Child Care Subsidy

Who Uses Wisconsin Shares? 2013  84,591 children  49,655 families  $235M

5 Year Decline Since 2009  2009:  97,135 children  54,468 families  $338M issuances

Purpose  Subsidize child care for low income parents who need child care to :  Work in unsubsidized employment, or  Prepare for employment while participating in specific “approved” activities.

Key Points  Approximately 3,500 child care providers participating in WI Shares out of total of 6,000  17% of families are in W-2 & 83% employed  Approximately 85% receive FoodShare  Overpayment requirement

Key Points cont…  Not a “case management” type program-more “income maintenance” (ESS workers have up to 900 cases)  Shared IT system for eligibility:  CC, FS, HealthCare, W-2 (different agencies)  Milwaukee: MiLES and MECA  BOS: counties and tribes

IT Overview  Handout - IT Systems

Part 1: Basic Eligibility  Need child care for “approved activity”  Children birth to 12, if special needs  Child must be a citizen (not parents)  Resident of Wisconsin  SSN  Parents in family must cooperate with Child Support  Low Income (defined later)

Approved Activities  Are defined in Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) block grant federal regs.  Set by Wisconsin statute  Part of approved state plan for CCDF  Limited to statute and plan approved  Included in FIP & QA review criteria  Proposed CCDF regs. change this June for 2015 state plan-significant changes

Wisconsin Shares Approved Activities s49.155(1m)  Learnfare participation (teen parent in W- 2 family),  To obtain HS diploma or GED/HSED if:  18 or 19  < 18 resides with parent, kinship care relative, foster home, or independent living supervised by an adult.

Unsubsidized Employment  Unsubsidized employment  Includes training provided by employer during work hours

W-2 Employment Position  Paid W-2 placements  Community Service Job placement  Transitional placement  Trial job (replacement)  CMF-upfront job search.  Not for case management only:  ex: caretaker of a newborn placement  Unless case management and employment because of employment

FoodStamp Employment and Training Program (FSET)  Job Search or Work Experience only-not education or other components

Transform Milwaukee Job  New program 2/2014  Only subsidized employment allowed under current law

Work and Training/Education  Maintain employment and ESL/basic skills/GED-HSED, tech school or other course of study approved by the department  2 year limit  Gov. Thompson changed “obtain” to “maintain” employment  Policy is 5 hours/week – or 20 hours/month

Defining “Parents”  Biological,  Adoptive,  Relative, or  A person taking the place of a parent

“Family” Income Limits  185% FPL for new applicants  200% FPL for on-going case  Foster child and children living with relatives per a court order & receiving Kinship Care benefits:  Child’s biological or adoptive family income can be no more than 200% FPL

Federal Poverty Level (FPL) 2014 Annual Income Levels Size of family 100 %110 %125 %150 %175 %185 %200 % unit Highest LevelOn-going ApplicantCases 1 $11,490$12,639$14,363$17,235$20,108 $21,257$22,980 2 $15,510$17,061$19,388$23,265$27,143 $28,694$31,020 3 $19,530$21,483$24,413$29,295$34,178 $36,131$39,060 4 $23,550$25,905$29,438$35,325$41,213 $43,568$47,100 5 $27,570$30,327$34,463$41,355$48,248 $51,005$55,140 6 $31,590$34,749$39,488$47,385$55,283 $58,442$63,180 7 $35,610$39,171$44,513$53,415$62,318 $65,879$71,220 8 $39,630$43,593$49,538$59,445$69,353 $73,316$79,260 For all states (except Alaska and Hawaii) and for the District of Columbia.

FPL% Monthly Income Limits and Wisconsin Shares Families Size of Family Unit FPL % Monthly Income Limits 100% FPL 110% FPL 125 % FPL150% FPL175% FPL185% FPL200% FPL 1 $958$1,053$1,197$1,436$1,676 $1,771$1,915 2 $1,293$1,422$1,616$1,939$2,262 $2,391$2,585 3 $1,628$1,790$2,034$2,441$2,848 $3,011$3,255 4 $1,963$2,159$2,453$2,944$3,434 $3,631$3,925 5 $2,298$2,527$2,872$3,446$4,021 $4,250$4,595 6 $2,633$2,896$3,291$3,949$4,607 $4,870$5,265 7 $2,968$3,264$3,709$4,451$5,193 $5,490$5,935 8 $3,303$3,633$4,128$4,954$5,779 $6,110$6,605 Most Wisconsin Shares Families 135% or less Wisconsin Share Limits

Why is “Family” Important?:  Defined by s (1)(s) stats for CC and W-2  A consistent definition is required to ensure consistent application of income guidelines for eligibility determination.  Determines whose income to count in a household.  Determines who in the household is required to be in an activity to qualify as “needing” child care (multiple parent families).

Definition:  A custodial parent & all their dependent children & all dependent children of the dependent child. Example:  Mom, teen parent, teen parent’s baby=family of 3.

Definition (cont.)  And…….any nonmaritial coparent residing in the house, and their dependent children, or……(next slide) Example:  Mom, boyfriend, their child if paternity was established on the boyfriend=family of 3.  Mom, boyfriend, their child. If paternity is not established=family of 2 and a referral is made to child support.

Definition (cont).  Or…..spouse of the custodial parent living in the house, and the spouse’s child(ren) (if the wife were not their parent). Example:  Mom, her child, her husband, his child=a family of 4

Two-Parent Families  Strict rules for 2-parent families participation in DCF 201  Both parents either work or other approved activities unless one parent is unable to work and is unable to care for the children, as verified by a doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist.

Two or More Parents:  The two-parent requirement is also applied to teen parents and their parent(s). Example:  If a teen is in school, the grandmother must need child care so that she can work unless she is unable to work and is unable to care for the child.

FPL & Co-Payments  Federal regulations and Wisconsin Statutes require families to contribute to their cost of child care.  Co-payment amounts are assessed based upon family size, FPL, and the number of children in subsidized child care.  Co-payment levels are located at:

Family of 4 at 100% FPL  The annual income limit is $23,550/year or $1,963/month  If they earned minimum wage ($7.25/hr) and one parent worked full time and the other about 23 hours per week, and they worked at the same time-their authorization would be probably be for 23 hours per week (or more for transportation).  Since they have overlapping work schedules, the second parent only needs child care for their working time.  If they had 2 children in child care, their co-payment would be $31 per week for both children.

Family of 4 at 185% FPL  An income limit is $43,568/year or $3,630/month  If both parents worked full time and there was no other countable income they could make no more than $10.55 an hour ($3,630/344 hours=$10.55).  If they had 2 children in child care, their co-payment would be $86 per week for both children

Authorizations  Parental choice of providers (fed and state policy), but the provider:  Must be regulated  Participating in YoungStar  Fingerprinting requirement  Give their private rates to local authorization agency  Give their tax information to regulator

Part II  Authorizations  Co-payments  Payments:  Gross Amounts/ YoungStar Adjustment/Net

Authorization Type  Attendance-based  Enrollment-based

Authorization Notices  Sent to parents  Sent to child care providers  Sent weekly for all changes: co-pay/rate changes, # of hours changed, provider changes

Authorization Criteria  17 assessment items:  Automation verses “case management” approach  How can Call Centers manage this level of detail for authorization?

Rates:  DCF set’s rates for licensed providers (MRS)  Certified rate is 75% of LFAM  Provisionally certified rate is 50% LFAM  Created by provider type and age groups  Currently by zone/% of urbanization

Co-pay  Most families have a co-pay amount assessed and deducted from their payments.  Providers expected to collect:  Some do/some don’t collect.  Subsidy amount + co-pay may not meet provider price/parent’s pay difference, too.

Process Flow  Step 1/Part I: Application/eligibility confirmed (verification complete)  Step 2/Part II: Authorization  Parental choice of providers:  Contingent regulated, participate in YS, soon fingerprinting requirement

Calculating Payments  Rate minus co-payment= “starting rate”  Attendance submitted and processed  Gross payment amount determine  YoungStar adjustment applied  Add Gross and YS adjustment=Net Amount