1.1 Introduction

Program History and Authority

The Caretaker Supplement(CTS) An additional amount of monthly cash benefit provided to certain SSI recipients in Wisconsin who reside with their dependent children. Wisconsin funds this benefit with a combination of state dollars and its federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) grant. (CTS) is a cash benefit program. The program’s benefit recipients are low-income parents who receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. These SSI parents receive CTS benefits for each of their eligible children.

Wisconsin’s Caretaker Supplement was authorized by 1997 Act 27, which created ss. 49.775. This original statutory language enabled and funded the program and specified the program’s basic eligibility requirements. It also included language that specified that the intent of the program was to provide cash benefits to SSI parents who would have met the eligibility requirements for benefits that were in place on July 16, 1996 under Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDCAid to Families with Dependent Children), a program eliminated by the federal government in 1997.

The first CTS benefits were distributed to approximately 5,700 former AFDC recipients for their 11,000 children in December 1997. The initial benefit payment was $77 per child. Beginning January 1998, the program began paying SSI recipients who had not been receiving AFDC, but whose children met the eligibility requirements for AFDC and would have received AFDC cash and Medicaid benefits had AFDC not been eliminated by the federal government. These CTS-eligible children were identified by their receipt of AFDC-Medicaid in Wisconsin’s Client Assistance for Re-Employment and Economic Support (CARES) computer system. AFDC-Medicaid eligibility requirements were identical to AFDC cash requirements, and this methodology for identifying new CTS cases served as a satisfactory proxy until a CTS-specific electronic eligibility determination process could be implemented in CARES.

The benefit payment amount for CTS remained $77 per month, per child until July 1998, when the payment was increased by the Wisconsin Legislature to $100 per month, per child. 1999 Wisconsin Act 9 increased the benefit to $250 per month for the first eligible child and $150 per month for each subsequent eligible child. This change was effective in November 1999. 2023 Wisconsin Act 19 increased the benefit to $275 per month for the first eligible child and $165 per month for each subsequent eligible child. This change was effective in July 2023. CTS benefits are never prorated based on the number of days an SSI parent is eligible for any payment month.

During April 2001, the Wisconsin Legislature promulgated Ch. HFS 79, an administrative rule that enabled the Department of Health Services to recover CTS benefit payments that were incorrectly made, due to ineligibility or overpayment, to SSI recipients.

Appendix 1, State Statutes and Codes contains links to current statutory language governing the Caretaker Supplement benefit.

On January 25, 2002, CTS became a unique program of assistance in Wisconsin’s CARES system. Local economic support agency workers began using this computerized system to process applications, determine eligibility, and generate notices and payments for CTS effective with payments for March 2002.

As of July 2023, approximately 4,300 SSI families were receiving CTS benefits for 8,200 children.

Benefit Funding

In 2022, CTS benefits totaled approximately $21.8 million. CTS benefits are funded by a combination of Wisconsin general purpose revenue tax dollars (GPR) and federal Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) dollars. The portion of CTS funding that is derived from GPR dollars is utilized by Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) to meet Wisconsin’s federally-imposed maintenance of effort requirement for Supplemental Security Income. For SSI purposes, CTS benefits are viewed as part of Wisconsin’s SSI state supplemental payment. After DHS counts its GPR-funded portion of CTS toward its SSI maintenance of effort requirement, the remainder of CTS benefit funding is supported by TANF dollars.

In turn, these TANF dollars are counted by Wisconsin’s Department of Children and Families (DCF) toward its federally-imposed TANF maintenance of effort.

Program Administration and Partnerships

The CTS program is administered by DHS, IMIncome Maintenance Consortia, and tribal income maintenance agencies. The local agencies are the point of application and eligibility determination for CTS. DHS contracts with several data processing firms to manage the CARES related aspects of the program and to process SSI payments, to which CTS benefits are added.

Persons who need to report a lost or stolen SSI check that includes CTS or who need CTS benefit history must contact Member Services at 800-362-3002. Requests for CTS benefit histories may also be faxed to 608-221-0991. Misdirected SSI benefit checks must be mailed to:

DHS/State SSI
P.O. Box 6680
Madison, Wisconsin 53716-0680

However, for assistance with all matters related to application, eligibility, payment amount, appeals and grievances, etc., recipients or their representatives must contact their county or tribal income maintenance (IM) agency.

DCF receives this state’s block grant for TANF funding and is therefore responsible for meeting the TANF reporting requirements specified by the federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and completing the federal ACF-199, TANF Data Report. DHS assists in this activity by providing monthly payment, eligibility, and demographic information to DCF regarding CTS-related TANF expenditures.

This page last updated in Release Number: 23-03
Release Date: 12/18/2023
Effective Date: 12/18/2023