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Child Care

Child Care Assistance, also called Wisconsin Shares, helps families pay for child care so parents, approved caretakers, or foster parents may work, go to school, or participate in approved work training programs. To receive Child Care Assistance, you must apply and be found eligible. You must also choose a child care provider who is certified, licensed or operated by a Wisconsin public school board. The child care provider must participate in the YoungStar program and have a quality rating of at least 2 Stars.


All Child Care applicants, renewals and authorizations in the Northern IM Consortium are processed by a specialized team of Child Care Eligibility Workers. Please call 1-888-794-5722 and listen for the prompt "if you are calling about child care, press 1"


The four ways to apply are listed in the column to the right.

Click the links below to learn more about the Wisconsin Shares Subsidies:

Wisconsin Shares Resources

Multiple languages available.

Click the links below to learn more about how to become a Child Care Provider:

Wisconsin Child Care Certification

Child Care Certifiers by County/Tribe

Childcaring

serving counties which include Lincoln, Taylor & Wood

Northwest Connections

serving counties which include Ashland, Bayfield, Florence, Forest, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, & Vilas

If you believe someone is misusing their benefits in any, but not limited to, the following ways, you can report fraud:

  • Billing Medicaid for services/equipment not provided.
  • Filing a false application for a DHS-funded assistance program such as
    Medicaid, BadgerCare Plus, WIC or FoodShare.
  • Trafficking of FoodShare benefits (trading the benefit card for cash,
    tobacco or alcohol, or buying ineligible non-food items).
  • Crime/misconduct/mismanagement by a DHS employee/official or contractor.

Click here to be taken to the Department of Human Services Fraud webpage.

Four Ways to

Apply for Benefits:

Apply online 24/7 with ACCESS by clicking the link above. Also available in Spanish.

888-794-5722

Our call center specialists will connect you with an interpreter available in many different languages!

888-794-5722

When scheduling a face-to-face appointment, please let our call center specialists know if you need an interpreter present at your appointment.

Call to request a paper application be sent to you:

888-794-5722

You can also find a complete listing of printable applications in our available languages here:

Application Language Listings

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