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State of Wisconsin |
HISTORY |
The policy on this page is from a previous version of the handbook.
3.1.2 Standard Filing Unit (SFU)
3.1.3 Definition of CTS Eligibility
3.1.4 SSI Eligibility in Wisconsin
3.1.10 Joint Custody Arrangements
3.1.13 Cooperation With Child Support (CS) Agency
3.1.14 Prohibition Against Concurrent Eligibility With W-2 or Kinship Care
Application for CTS is made at county or tribal economic support agencies. These agencies are generally located within the county or tribal human services or social services department. Application for CTS may be made by phone, mail, or in person. Face-to-face contact between the applicant and agency personnel is not required. CTS application forms and instructions are available in the DHS Form Library under Caretaker Supplement Application form, F-22571.
Anyone may apply for Caretaker Supplement. Once an individual has filed an application for CTS, the local agency has 30 days to process the application. The local agency may extend the application processing period when there are no longer ten days remaining in a month after the date on which an applicant was asked to provide verification of information.
Generally, an applicant for CTS is an SSI parent or the head of a family requesting assistance. Most often, application for CTS is processed simultaneously with applications for Medicaid, FoodShare, or Child Care assistance. The local agency will use the CARES system to enter the application and determine eligibility. The CARES system is programmed to test all cases for CTS, unless the applicant has specifically told the local agency worker that he or she is not applying for CTS.
Local agency workers can use the CARES system to determine eligibility for CTS back to January 1998, as long as the parent had requested public assistance and had an open assistance case in the CARES system for each month of CTS retroactivity. It is also very important that CTS payments made to parents before CTS became a program of assistance in CARES are not duplicated.
When determining whether a possible CTS assistance group exists for any application, CARES configures a standard filing unit (SFU). This is a methodology for determining which members of a household must be taken into consideration when determining whether the non-financial and financial requirements of CTS are met. This methodology was first used when AFDC was available to residents of Wisconsin, and is used for CTS today, because CTS eligibility is built on the former requirements for the now defunct AFDC.
The SFU process will build a CTS case around a specific child, identifying the adults and other children who are also part of the CTS case and potentially able to garner CTS benefits that will be added to the parent’s SSI payment.
To establish the SFU, determine whether the household contains at least one SSI parent caring for at least one minor child. Often, several children fit this criterion in a single household, so identify the “target child” around whom the CTS case will be built. Use either one of the following choices to determine which child in a household should be the target child:
First Choice for Target Child: The oldest minor or dependent 18-year-old (see Section 3.1.11 Dependent 18-Year-Olds) child-in-common for parents in the household.
Second Choice for Target Child: The oldest child or dependent 18-year-old (see Section 3.1.11) of the person identified by CARES as the Primary Person, when there are no dependent children-in-common or the only dependent children-in-common receive SSI, themselves.
Whenever the Primary Person in a case does not have any dependent children, or when all of the primary person’s children receive SSI, it is not possible for a household to receive CTS.
The most typical family configuration seen among CTS applicants consists of a single parent with minor children or dependent 18-year-old offspring who meet the AFDC criteria for dependence. The second most common CTS family configuration occurs when two recipients of SSI live in a household with their minor children, some or all of whom do not receive SSI, themselves. There are many family configurations that include CTS recipients, however. See Section 5.4 Illustrations for twelve examples.
After determining the target child, the SFU process requires that the natural or adoptive parents of the target child are included in the filing unit, along with any minor siblings or half-siblings of the target child. Parents of half-siblings are also included in the filing unit. Finally, minor siblings who have been married, but whose marriages were annulled, are included in the filing unit.
Some members of a household are not included in the SFU. Currently married or divorced persons under the age of 18 are not considered minor children for CTS purposes and are not included in the SFU. Step-siblings, step-parents, any children of the target child, and all other relatives and non-relatives who live in the household are excluded from the SFU.
SSI parents are not permitted to voluntarily exclude any person from the SFU who would otherwise be automatically included. For instance, a parent may not opt to exclude a minor child who has income from wages from the SFU, when this income will cause the rest of the group to be income ineligible for CTS.
After determining which members of the household are in the SFU, determine which members are potentially eligible for CTS cash assistance. At this point, begin to refer to the people who have become members of the SFU as the assistance group, or "AG."
A CTS-eligible parent is a recipient of SSI who has met all financial and non-financial requirements for CTS. The CTS grant amount will include $0 for the parent, however. A CTS eligible child is a minor child or dependent 18-year-old who has met all financial and non-financial eligibility requirements for CTS. The CTS grant amount will include cash benefits for each eligible child. Any parent who is pregnant cannot be eligible for CTS benefits for the fetus until the child is born.
The relationship between parents and children and eligibility for SSI cash benefits in Wisconsin is very important in any CTS case. Parents in a CTS assistance group must be current recipients of SSI state supplemental benefit payments in Wisconsin. If the entire SSI payment is being recouped, the parent does not qualify as a CTS parent. CTS parents may be eligible for both federal and Wisconsin State Supplemental SSI payments (SSP) or for SSP payments only, as a grandfathered state-only SSI recipient.
SSI or CTS benefits cannot be paid for any month to any federal SSI recipient whose state of jurisdiction is not Wisconsin. This means that the federal Social Security Administration (SSA) has classified the parent(s) SSI as within the jurisdiction of Wisconsin and has passed this status on to DHS via federal/state SSI data exchange. Local agency workers have access to EDSNET/ WSSI screens to verify whether Wisconsin has been assigned as the state of jurisdiction for a recipient of SSI.
Eligibility for federal SSDI benefits does not qualify a parent as a CTS parent. Neither does eligibility for Medicaid under s. 1619(b) of the Social Security Act, which is a Medicaid benefit for former SSI recipients whose earnings from work cause them to be ineligible for SSI cash benefits. Either the federal SSA or Wisconsin DHS may designate an individual as eligible for Medicaid under s. 1619(b). However, a child who receives Medicaid under s. 1619(b) may be eligible for CTS, because he or she does not receive SSI cash benefits.
Children for whom SSI parents receive CTS may not be receiving SSI themselves. However, any child who formerly received SSI and has appealed the termination of SSI (without continuation of cash benefits pending the outcome of the appeal) may be eligible for CTS, even though his or her Medicaid under SSI has continued. When both parents of any CTS eligible child are in the home, both must be receiving SSI in Wisconsin as a condition of CTS eligibility.
Any person who is not a U.S. citizen must meet one of the following criteria to be potentially eligible for CTS:
Be lawfully admitted to the U.S. for permanent residence
Be lawfully present in the U.S. pursuant to 8USC 1153, 1157, 1158, 1160 and 1182
Be granted lawful temporary resident status under 8 USC 1161 or 1255a and be:
Be otherwise permanently residing in the U.S. under the color of law (PRUCOL), with evidence of approved PRUCOL status. Lawfully admitted aliens who are not eligible for CTS because they are here temporarily include tourists, visitors, students and diplomats.
Recipients of CTS, both parents and children, must currently reside in Wisconsin and intend to remain in Wisconsin.
Recipients of CTS, both parents and children, must reside in a qualified living arrangement. The following are CTS qualified arrangements:
Independent home, apartment or mobile home
Shelter for battered woman/ domestic abuse
Homeless
Hospital, short term
Section 202/236 housing
Unlike some other programs of public assistance, CTS does not allow eligibility in cases where parents or children are temporarily absent from the home.
Household relationships are a key component of CTS eligibility. SSI parents must be caring for their own children, by birth or adoption, to qualify for CTS. This means that the parent resides with the child and provides the majority of physical care and financial support and functions in the parental role. When two SSI parents live with their children in common, only one of these parents may be identified as the parent who is caring for their children. When an SSI recipient is a minor parent who resides with his or her child and there are adults in the household, the minor parent must be the person caring for the child; not the adults in the household.
When custody of a child is shared between parents, the parent with whom the child resides the majority of the time is identified as caring for the child for CTS purposes.
When the natural or adoptive parents of a child do not live together, and have joint custody (through a mutually agreed upon arrangement or court order) and you cannot determine who the child is living with the majority of the time, act on the CTS case as follows:
Determine if the agreement or court order awarding joint custody designates a “primary caretaker.” A parent designated as the primary caretaker is the primary person.
If one parent is not designated, ask the parents to decide which one is the “primary caretaker.” If they decide within the 30-day processing, act on the application as based on what they decided.
If no decision is made within the 30 days of the application date, review the parents’ activities and responsibilities to determine which parent is the primary caretaker. Use the following list:
This list is not exclusive, and there may be situations where you find additional criteria to apply.
There are cases in which these questions may be answered positively for both parents. However, in reviewing parental responsibilities and roles, usually you will find one parent more often identified. Identify this parent as the primary person for determining eligibility.
Document your decision in the case record.
State statute defines CTS-eligible children as minors or dependent 18-year-olds. A dependent 18-year-old is an 18-year-old who:
The 18-year-old does not have to be enrolled full time in high school in order to be considered a dependent 18-year-old. When a dependent 18-year-old is home-schooled, the parent must provide written documentation of expected graduation date from the home-schooling association or agency. It is irrelevant to CTS eligibility whether minor children are enrolled in school.
Children who graduate from high school before they are 18 years old may remain eligible until they turn 18.
To prevent unnecessary CTS payment termination when a child turns 18, request verification of school enrollment and expected date of graduation at the renewal when the child is still 17.
Each member of any CTS household must provide his or her Social Security Number (SSN) as a condition of eligibility. When an infant is added to the household, either by birth or adoption, the SSN of the infant must be provided to the local agency prior to the date the infant reaches 6 months of age.
Whenever a potentially eligible child in a CTS household has an absent parent, the parent that is caring for the child must cooperate with the conditions of the local child support agency. If the parent does not cooperate or discontinues cooperation, CTS application or eligibility will be ended. When a CTS eligible parent has children who have different absent parents, the CTS-eligible parent must cooperate with the child support agency in regard to each child’s absent parent.
CTS benefits may not be paid to an SSI parent for the same month for which the parent participated in W-2 and received W-2 cash benefits. Receipt of W-2 benefits is defined as the month in which the parent is participating in, and eligible for, W-2 services, regardless of when the parent will receive the payment for that month. Similarly, CTS benefits may not be paid to an SSI parent for a month in which a grandparent or other non-legally responsible relative received Kinship Care benefits for caring for a potential CTS eligible child.
CTS applicants and recipients must provide verification of required information in order for a local agency to process an application or review of eligibility for CTS. The verification requirement applies to both non-financial and financial information. Failure to provide required verification will result in termination of CTS benefits. The following information must be satisfactorily verified when CTS eligibility is being determined:
Social Security Number
Citizenship or alien status
School enrollment for 18-year-olds
Income earned from employer
Income earned from self-employment (IRS tax forms must be signed by the member.)
Unearned income (i.e., Social Security)
Child support (received or paid)
Pregnancy of minor child
Property (land, stocks, etc., transferred in past 36 months)
This page last updated in Release Number: 19-01
Release Date: 9/10/2019
Effective Date: 9/10/2019
The information concerning the Caretaker Supplement program provided in this handbook release is published in accordance with Section 49.775 of the Wisconsin Statutes and Chapters HA 3 and DHS 2 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code.
Notice: The content within this manual is the sole responsibility of the State of Wisconsin's Department of Health Services (DHS). This site will link to sites outside of DHS where appropriate. DHS is in no way responsible for the content of sites outside of DHS.
Publication Number: P-23131