10.1 Child Welfare Parent or Caretaker Relative

Qualifying parents and caretaker relative s of children who have been temporarily removed from the home and are in the care of the child welfare system may be eligible for BadgerCare Plus benefits if they meet all the following requirements:

Their child was living with them at the time the child welfare agency removed the child and placed him or her in:

Foster care (both IV-E and non IV-E).

Court-ordered Kinship Care.

Another living arrangement.

Note: If child welfare is involved and the child welfare agency has established a permanency plan for the child under authority of Wis. Stat. § 48.38 or 938.38, other living arrangements for the children meet this criteria. For example, a child may be placed with grandparents who are not eligible for Kinship Care or a child may be placed with the other parent.

The parent or caretaker relative is cooperating with a permanency plan, the goal of which is family reunification. Cooperation is always presumed unless the court has determined that reunification will no longer be the permanency goal.
The caretaker relative meets all other BadgerCare Plus financial and non-financial requirements.

Note: Children are not considered to be in the care of the child welfare system if they are an inmate in a public institution, such as a Type 1 Juvenile Correctional Institution.

The parent or caretaker relative who meets the above requirements is considered caring for a child who has been temporarily removed from the home. The parent or caretaker relative did not have to be enrolled in BadgerCare Plus at the time of removal, but the child did have to live with the parent or caretaker. Even though the child’s eligibility is not determined on the caretaker relative's case, the child is included in the group size in the eligibility determination, and any unearned income the child has is budgeted under non-MAGIApply to households whose eligibility is determined using BadgerCare Plus relationship rules (prior to March 31, 2014) to budget income for a household prior to transitioning to MAGI BadgerCare Plus budgeting rules. rules.

If the child welfare system places a child with a Kinship Care relative, the Kinship Care relative may qualify for BadgerCare Plus as the caretaker relative of the child even if the Child Welfare parent/caretaker is also determined eligible as the caretaker relative of this child.

See Process Help Chapter 14 Processing a Child Welfare Parents and Caretaker Relative (CWPC) Case for information on processing the child welfare parent or caretaker relative cases.

The parent or caretaker relative who meets the above requirements is considered caring for a child who is temporarily absent. The parent or caretaker relative did not have to be enrolled in BadgerCare Plus at the time of removal, but the child did have to live with the parent or caretaker. The parent will continue to be considered a parent or caretaker for purposes of BadgerCare Plus eligibility under MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income. MAGI rules are used to determine BadgerCare Plus eligibility for new applicants beginning in 2014 and for existing members as of March 31, 2014, or their next regularly scheduled renewal, whichever is later. MAGI rules are based on tax relationships and family relationships, and they consider taxable income and whether children and tax dependents are required to file. rules. However, the child may not always be included in the parent’s MAGI group (see Chapter 2 BadgerCare Plus Group on the MAGI methodology).

If the child welfare system places a child with a Kinship Care relative, the Kinship Care relative is no longer considered a caretaker relative (if the parent is enrolled in BadgerCare Plus as a child welfare parent under the policy described above). Instead, the Kinship Care relative may qualify for BadgerCare Plus as a childless adult. If the parent is not enrolled as a child welfare parent, the Kinship Care relative may enroll in BadgerCare Plus as a caretaker relative.

Example 1: Stacy’s child, Jared, was placed in Kinship Care with Stacy’s mom Laura, who is 55 years old. Stacy files taxes but will not be claiming Jared as her tax dependent. Laura will claim Jared as her tax dependent. There are no other children, tax filers, or tax dependents in either Stacy’s or Laura’s households. If they both apply for BadgerCare Plus and meet all financial and non-financial requirements, Stacy will be eligible for BadgerCare Plus as a parent with a group size of one and Laura as a childless adult with a group size of two.

Example 2: Ben’s daughter, Megan, was placed in Kinship Care with her grandfather James, who is 60 years old. Ben does not file taxes. James does file taxes and will claim Megan as his dependent that year. There are no other children, tax filers, or tax dependents in either Ben’s or James’s households. If they both apply for BadgerCare Plus and meet all financial and non-financial requirements, Ben will be eligible for BadgerCare Plus as a parent with a group size of two and James as a childless adult with a group size of two.

Example 3: Consider the details of Example 2, except James is now 66 years old. Under this example, James would not be eligible for BadgerCare Plus because he is a childless adult over 65 years old. He may, however, be eligible for EBDElderly, Blind, or Disabled Medicaid.

Example 4: Christopher’s son, Braden, was placed in Kinship Care with Christopher’s sister, Vicki. Christopher is claiming Braden as a tax dependent but is not applying for BadgerCare Plus. If Vicki meets all financial and non-financial requirements, Vicki would be eligible for BadgerCare Plus as a caretaker relative with a group size of one.

This page last updated in Release Number: 16-01

Release Date: 02/15/2016

Effective Date: 02/15/2016