Child Care Background Check Requests
by State Agencies for Individuals
Who Have Previously Lived in Wisconsin maroon graphic of document with checkmarks

The information below exists to guide non-Wisconsin state agencies in obtaining background check results for individuals who have previously resided in Wisconsin. This process exists for the purpose of determining an individual’s eligibility to reside or work in a child care setting. These instructions are only for other qualified agencies, and will not work for individuals who do not have authority to access another individual’s Child Protective Services and criminal background information.

 

Criminal and Department of Health and Family Services Records

Agencies and organizations who require the criminal records of a resident or former resident of Wisconsin can request them through the following process:

  1. Go to the Wisconsin Online Record Check System. 
  2. Select “Public Access”.
  3. Select “Submit Request”.
  4. Check the “I accept the conditions of the security warning” box.
  5. Select “Continue”.
  6. Set the “Background Request Type” to CAREGIVER.
  7. If your state or agency requires notarized paper results, select the “Certified Copy” checkbox.
  8. Fill out the individual’s information.
  9. Your payment summary will appear, once you verify it is correct, select “Submit Payment”.
  10. Use the State of Wisconsin e-Payment Services page to complete your request.

Child Protective Services Records Request Within Milwaukee County

Milwaukee County is unique in Wisconsin and requires a special process for requesting CPS records. The steps below must be followed to obtain CPS records from Milwaukee County.

  1. Complete the Request for Child Protective Services Background Check for Certain Purposes form.
  2. If a response to your request is not provided within 10 working days, follow up by email to the following address: CWBckgrdRequests@wisconsin.gov. If you do follow up, include the name of the individual whose records were requested.

Child Protective Services Records Request Outside of Milwaukee County

Wisconsin does not have a centralized CPS registry. Records are kept by, and requested through, the county where an individual lived. Because of this, a person must contact each county department to request CPS records. Each county’s process and cost may be different. The steps below exist to help an individual find the contact information for a county to request CPS records:

  1. Go to the Report Child Abuse and Neglect web page. 
  2. Using the tool on that page, search for the county an individual inhabited.
  3. If you don’t know the county, you can find it by looking up a city or zip code.
  4. If you search by county, the contact information or the county appears below your selection.
  5. If you search by city or zip code, the contact information will appear on the map.
  6. Once you have the contact information, contact the county and follow their process. Counties have their own processes, forms and costs associated with receiving CPS records.

Sex Offender Registry Records

Agencies and organizations who require the Sex Offender Registry records from the state of Wisconsin can do so by following the instructions below:

  1. Go to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections Sex Offender Registry. 
  2. Read the Terms and Conditions and select “Agree”
  3. Enter an individual’s name as specifically as possible, any search with over 240 results will cause a search error. A last name is required to complete this search.
  4. Select a name in the “Name” column to examine an individual record and ensure that it matches with an individual’s details.