Wisconsin Building Child Care Licensing Partnerships

Summary: To reach childcare provider applicants before they commit to a location by purchase or lease, Wisconsin’s Choose Safe Places for Early Care and Education (CSPECE)external icon initiative is working with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) and Supporting Families Together Association (SFTA).

Building blocks showing connections and partnership building.

In Wisconsin, most childcare license applicants are already under contract by the time they meet with SFTA, which regulates facilities. To ensure that locations are environmentally safe, Wisconsin CSP needs to intervene before applicants choose a location. The state currently has 4,234 licensed facilities with capacity for 176,915 children, and about 200 facilities are newly licensed every year.

Through meetings, Wisconsin CSPECE has successfully convinced partners to add the property questionnaire to the official DCF inquiry packet for new applicants. Several meetings have strengthened the partnerships, and partners have committed to providing feedback on the pilot property questionnaire. Partners are reviewing the questionnaire and will give Wisconsin CSPECE feedback to ensure applicants will fill out the questionnaire.

Page last reviewed: August 11, 2021