Foster Home Licensing Information

When a child cannot safely remain in their home, every effort will be made to place a child with a relative or like-kin caregiver. When that is not possible, the next preference is to place children in a nonrelative foster home. A child’s foster parent may be their relative, like-kin, or nonrelative. A foster parent’s primary role is to temporarily care for a child until the child achieves permanency through reunification, guardianship or adoption. 

If the child is an Indian child, the agency has the responsibility for complying with the Wisconsin Indian Child Welfare Act (WICWA), including but not limited to the active efforts and placement preference requirements.

Foster parents are also responsible to engage in shared parenting with the child’s parents, guardian, or Indian custodian. This means including them in when making decisions about the child, including them in meetings and appointments regarding the child, and supporting the child’s relationship and connection with them while separated. 

Wis. Admin. Code. s. DCF 56 establishes the licensing requirements for foster homes and foster parents. Indian tribes are sovereign nations, which means they can create their own laws and regulations for foster home licensing. While some tribes use state licensing requirements, others have their own standards and policies. Foster parents licensed by and agencies working with a tribe should contact the tribal agency to learn about the tribe’s policies.

DCF 56 Foster Home Care for Children is a PDF version of the administrative code that may be helpful for child welfare professionals to reference. There are two foster home licensing pathways, one for relatives and like-kin, and one for nonrelative applicants. 

Counties, tribes and child placing agencies license foster parents in Wisconsin.

Questions about foster home licensing can be emailed to: DCFDSPGeneralFosterCare@wisconsin.gov

Background Check Requirements

Background checks are one component of the uniform assessment system for foster home licensing. Both federal and state laws establish requirements for all prospective and licensed foster parents.

Background check requirements can be found in the following Wisconsin Statutes and Administrative Rules:

The licensing agency will conduct the following background checks at initial licensure

  • FBI Fingerprints
  • Wisconsin Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal History Seach
  • Wisconsin Integrated Background Information System (IBIS) Search
  • eWiSACWIS Substantiation Findings
  • Child Protective Services (CPS) Records (for 5-year period before the search)
  • Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry Reverse Adress Search
  • Out-of-State Criminal History Records (for 5-year period before the search)

The process to upload background checks into eWiSACWIS can be found in the Background Check Imaging User Guide. 

Background Check Training Resources

Module 4 of the Foster Care Coordinator Pre-Service training explains the background check process in relation to licensing foster parents.

Additional Background Check Resources

The Barred Crimes and Other Offenses - Foster Care and Subsidized Guardianship table provides a list of crimes and other offenses and their impact on a person’s ability to become a licensed foster parent or subsidized guardian.

The Barred Offenses - Residential Care Centers, Group Homes, Shelter Cares, and Child Placing Agencies table provides a list of crimes and other offenses and their impact on a person’s ability to operate, work at, or live as a non-client resident in a residential care center, group home, shelter care facilities, and child placing agencies. 

2021 Wisconsin Act 72, also commonly referred to as Ethan's Law, provides additional information that an agency and court must consider related to the criminal background of an individual when making placement decisions.

Standardized Assessment Tools (Home Studies)

The Uniform Assessment System memo describes the requirement for the department to approve a standardized assessment tool for licensing agencies to use in assessing potential foster home and adoption applicants. 

  • The Relative and Like-Kin Licensing Assessment is the standardized caregiver assessment tool to assess relatives and like-kin for a foster home license for both initial licensing and licensing renewals/modifications.
  • The Multipurpose Home Study Report for initial licenses and the Multipurpose Home Study Update/Recertification for license renewals/modifications, also known as the SAFE home study, is the standardized assessment tool to license nonrelatives for a foster home license and all applicants for an adoption approval.
Exceptions

DCF 56.24 grants authority to licensing agencies and the department to grant exceptions to some of the requirements in this administrative code.

DCF 56 Foster Home Care for Children includes boxes and asterisks to easily differentiate between requirements that a licensing agency can grant an exception for and the requirements that the department can grant an exception for.

The following publications were created to distinguish the exceptions that apply under the relative and like-kin licensing pathway and the nonrelative licensing pathway:

Exceptions that Apply to Relatives and Like-Kin

Exceptions that Apply to Nonrelatives

Submitting Exception Requests

Licensing agencies with eWiSACWIS access, submit approve exceptions and submit exception requests to the department via eWiSACWIS. Refer to the Licensing Home Providers User Guide to complete this process.

Licensing agencies that do not have access to eWiSACWIS are required to submit exception requests to the department via the Foster Home Exception Request Submission Portal using the forms below. Submission through the portal will securely send materials to the department’s exceptions panel. 

Application to DCF Exceptions Panel for Exception to Ch. DCF 56 (for all exception requests to the department except citation 56.085 (1) (a) and 56.085 (1) (b) for the total number of persons receiving care). 

Application to DCF Exceptions Panel for Exception of Total Number of Persons Receiving Care (for exception requests to the department for 56.085 (1) (a) and 56.085 (1) (b) only). 

Licensing agencies are encouraged to utilize the FAQs for Foster Home Exception Requests to ensure they are providing all the required information in the request.

Questions about foster home exceptions can be emailed to: DCFDSPFCExceptions@wisconsin.gov

Foster Home Licensing Resources

There are a variety of resources available to help child welfare professionals license foster homes.

WCWPDS partners with the department to offer training that focuses on the role of a licensing professional, overseeing foster parent compliance to Chapter 56 Administrative Code and the role of screening and assessing prospective foster families. 

Documentation Requirements for Foster Home Providers in eWiSACWIS policy describes the information required to be entered into eWiSACWIS under federal and state law. The Provider Work eWiSACWIS User Guides provide detailed instructions on how to enter the required information into eWiSACWIS. Agencies without eWiSACWIS access are required to complete Foster Home Information for eWiSACWIS and send to DCFCPALicensingRequests@Wisconsin.gov to have the information entered into eWiSACWIS.

Foster Home Recruitment

The Wisconsin Family Connections Center offers a variety of resources related to foster home recruitment.

Below are the WiFCC’s current recruitment campaign materials that can be utilized by any child welfare agency. 

Rethink Foster Care Campaign Materials

First Nations Foster Home Recruitment Materials

The department also offers licensed foster parents an incentive for successfully recruiting new foster homes throughout the state. Licensing agencies can request this incentive on behalf of the foster parent recruiter via the Foster Home Recruitment Incentive Webform.

Foster Parent Insurance Program

This program was created by the Wisconsin Legislature (Wis. Stat. § 48.627) for the Department of Children and Families to reimburse foster parents for incurred costs associated with bodily injury or property damage caused by foster children in their care that is not covered by their insurance policies.

The Foster Parent Insurance Program Brochure has more information about the program and how to submit a claim. The forms to submit a claim are found here: Foster Parent Liability Insurance Information. 

Questions about the foster parent insurance program can be emailed to:  DCFDSPFPInsurance@wisconsin.gov