Wisconsin Department of Children and Families - Division of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration
Wisconsin Shares Handbook
Parents who work third shift may request an authorization for child care for sleep time based on the parent’s need to sleep to remain employed. The local agency will determine a reasonable number of authorized hours on a case-by-case basis. The same family may also request child care for the hours of employment.
Agency workers must consider the maximum hours per day when determining authorized hours (see 16.1.2). This maximum includes hours of employment, travel time, gap time, and any sleep hours requested by the parent.
| Example 1: Theresa works third shift and sleeps during the day. Theresa requests a child care authorization for her child, Milo, only for the hours that she sleeps. She requests an authorization for 24 weekly hours, which Theresa indicates is around 7 hours per day of sleep time plus travel time. The local agency determines that the requested hours are reasonable and enters 24 weekly hours as the authorized hours in CSAW. |
| Example 2: Ximena requests an authorization for 54 weekly hours. She tells the agency worker that this amount includes three (3) 12-hour work shifts plus five (5) hours of sleep time, and 30 minutes of travel time each way for each shift. Because the limit for a child to be in care at a licensed group provider is 14 hours in a 24-hour period, only 14 hours of care may be authorized for each shift, resulting in 42 weekly hours. Ximena must also provide written documentation showing the work, travel, or other factors that show a child care need of more than 12 hours per day. After Ximena provides the documentation, the agency worker enters 42 weekly hours as the authorized hours in CSAW. |
This section last updated 11/1/2024