Wisconsin Kinship Care Income Rules: Does Grandparent Income Count?

The Short Answer

For the Kinship Care program itself, your income does not count. Wisconsin determines eligibility based entirely on the child's financial circumstances. Your Social Security, pension, wages, savings, and assets are 100% excluded under the Kinship Care income methodology. But this rule does not apply to every program a kinship caregiver might use — and that's where confusion starts.

Kinship Care: Caregiver Income Fully Excluded

Under Wis. Stat. § 48.57(3m), the only income evaluated for Kinship Care eligibility is income received directly by or on behalf of the child — things like Social Security Dependent or Survivors benefits, trust payments, or child support. If the child receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in their own right, they're ineligible for Kinship Care payments, because the two programs cannot be received concurrently. But your retirement income, disability benefits, part-time wages, or savings balance have zero effect on the child's Kinship Care eligibility.

There is no income limit for the caregiver. A grandparent earning $80,000 a year qualifies for the same Kinship Care payment as a grandparent on a fixed $1,200 Social Security check, as long as the child meets the eligibility criteria.

BadgerCare Plus: Child-Only Household Rules

BadgerCare Plus (Wisconsin's Medicaid program) follows Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) rules. Children qualify with household income up to 306% of the Federal Poverty Level. The critical detail: when a non-parent relative caregiver doesn't claim the child as a tax dependent, the child's BadgerCare Plus assistance group consists solely of the child and any minor siblings in the home.

Your income is completely excluded from the calculation. Only income directly attributable to the child (trust funds, the child's own earned income) is counted. The mistake to avoid: when filling out the ACCESS portal application, don't include yourself in the child's household for BadgerCare purposes if you're not claiming them as a tax dependent. Including your income accidentally is one of the most common reasons applications get delayed or incorrectly denied.

FoodShare: It Depends on Custody

FoodShare (Wisconsin SNAP) follows different rules, and this is where income counting gets complicated for kinship caregivers.

If you do NOT hold legal custody or guardianship: You can apply for FoodShare for the child as a separate household, provided you purchase and prepare the child's food separately from your own. In this case, your income stays out of the child's FoodShare calculation.

If you DO hold legal custody, guardianship, or have adopted the child: The child must be included in your FoodShare assistance group. All household income — including your retirement benefits — is budgeted together.

DHS Operations Memo DMS Ops 2023-09 clarified an additional rule: if the child receiving Kinship Care is included in your FoodShare group, the $384/month Kinship Care payment counts as unearned income to the household. If the child is excluded from your FoodShare group, the Kinship Care payment is also excluded.

Wisconsin Shares and W-2

Wisconsin Shares (childcare subsidies) has an initial entry threshold of 200% FPL. For court-ordered kinship placements, financial eligibility is based on the biological parents' income at the time of removal — not yours. Court-ordered relative caregivers also receive a $0 copayment.

Wisconsin Works (W-2) is the one major program where your income absolutely counts. If you apply for W-2 cash assistance, you're included in the assistance group, your income is tested against the 115% FPL limit, and you must participate in work activities.

The Bottom Line

The Kinship Care payment and BadgerCare Plus for the child are income-blind to the caregiver. FoodShare depends on your custody arrangement. Understanding which programs use child-only rules and which budget the whole household is the difference between getting full benefits and accidentally disqualifying yourself.

The Wisconsin Kinship Financial Help guide includes a Benefits Eligibility Screener that maps each program's income rules to your specific custody arrangement, so you know exactly what counts before you apply.

See more Wisconsin guides →