Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Early Care Regulation
Child Care Background Check Procedures
The comprehensive background check includes information on any pending investigations and determinations of child abuse or neglect made by a county/governmental agency against any applicant, licensee, certified operator, employee, and adult household member. (The CBU may check all household members over the age of 18.) Wisconsin does not have a child abuse and neglect registry so the CBU must access this information from the eWiSACWIS database.
To access information from the eWiSACWIS database, two types of searches are conducted: a person search and a provider search. The person search produces all cases in which the queried person is attached to a child abuse or neglect investigation or determination. The provider search produces all cases in which the queried child care provider’s facility is attached.
Because an individual identified in the eWiSACWIS case may not be the alleged maltreater, the CBU must review all reports carefully to determine the queried individual’s involvement in every case in which he or she is named. If the case contains a substantiation as a maltreater, the initial assessment report must be saved and uploaded in WISCCRS under Confidential Documents. Cases that do not result in substantiated findings are not uploaded to WISCCRS. Cases in which the individual is involved in a role other than maltreater (victim, household member, or reporter) are not uploaded to WISCCRS.
The CPS person and provider searches are completed through an automation in the Wisconsin Child Care Regulatory System (WISCCRS). Currently, the CPS automation checks eWISACWIS maltreater information. If potential matches are found, those are reviewed by the CBU and confirmed. Future enhancements will include matching with foster care licensing (denials and revocations).
In addition to accessing CPS history in eWiSACWIS, the CBU requests a county reference letter from all counties/tribes that have not transferred all of their records to eWiSACWIS. Although the eWiSACWIS system was fully implemented statewide and used by counties by January 2005, the CPS information available in the system is still limited. Some tribes do not use eWiSACWIS but rather maintain their own Indian Child Welfare records. For complete CPS records, the CBU must contact the county agency or tribal office where the individual has lived or worked. If the person lived or worked in Wisconsin prior to 2005, the request is sent to each county CPS agency where the person lived or worked during those dates prior to 2005. If the person has a birthdate on or after 1/1/1987, no county reference letter is needed as all information is available in eWiSACWIS. As of May of 2018, a county reference letter is not required in twenty-nine counties. A county reference letter regarding those individuals who have lived in remaining fifty-four counties and tribes must be sent to the county/tribal CPS agency to complete the comprehensive background check. The CBU will make a reasonable effort to obtain this information within 45 days of when fingerprint results are received.
This page last updated 04/2021.