Wisconsin Department
of Children and Families - Division
of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration
Wisconsin Shares Handbook
The Wisconsin Shares eligibility determination and authorization process is a two-step process.
Eligibility: Parents must complete the application process, meet all financial and nonfinancial eligibility criteria and be determined eligible.
Authorization: Parents must select a child care provider and specific location, and request an authorization.
Wisconsin Shares cases must be managed within the applicant’s county of residence or within an Income Maintenance (IM) Consortium that has been approved by the department to pool its Child Care caseload.
ACCESS applications for Wisconsin Shares are routed to the county of residence and must be processed in the county of residence, unless the local agency has an approved waiver from the department or for tribal members who have requested their application be processed by the tribal agency. IM Consortia with approved waivers determine routing rules for their own counties.
Applications for Wisconsin Shares submitted through ACCESS Add a Program (AAP) are assigned to the local agency that currently administers the case and must be processed by the assigned local agency. The ACCESS application cannot be transferred to another local agency even if the parent has moved.
This section last updated 10/1/2023