48.57(3n)(g)1.1. Upon receipt of a timely petition under
par. (f) the department shall give the applicant or recipient reasonable notice and an opportunity for a fair hearing. The department may make such additional investigation as it considers necessary. Notice of the hearing shall be given to the applicant or recipient and to the county department or subunit of the department whose action or failure to act is the subject of the petition. That county department or subunit of the department may be represented at the hearing. The department shall render its decision as soon as possible after the hearing and shall send a certified copy of its decision to the applicant or recipient and to the county department or subunit of the department whose action or failure to act is the subject of the petition. The decision of the department shall have the same effect as an order of the county department or subunit of the department whose action or failure to act is the subject of the petition. The decision shall be final, but may be revoked or modified as altered conditions may require. The department shall deny a petition for review or shall refuse to grant relief if any of the following applies:
48.57(3n)(g)1.b.
b. The sole issue in the petition concerns an automatic payment adjustment or change that affects an entire class of recipients and is the result of a change in state law.
48.57(3n)(g)1.c.
c. The petitioner abandons the petition. Abandonment occurs if the petitioner fails to appear in person or by a representative at a scheduled hearing without good cause, as determined by the department.
48.57(3n)(g)2.
2. If a recipient requests a hearing within 10 days after the date of notice that his or her payments under
par. (am) are being discontinued, those payments may not be discontinued until a decision is rendered after the hearing but payments made pending the hearing decision may be recovered by the department if the contested action or failure to act is upheld. The department shall promptly notify the county department of the county in which the recipient resides or, if the recipient resides in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the subunit of the department administering of the long-term kinship care program in that county that the recipient has requested a hearing. Payments under
par. (am) shall be discontinued if any of the following applies:
48.57(3n)(g)2.a.
a. The recipient is contesting a state law or a change in state law and not the determination of the payment made on the recipient's behalf.
48.57(3n)(g)2.b.
b. The recipient is notified of a change in his or her payments under
par. (am) while the hearing decision is pending but the recipient fails to request a hearing on the change.
48.57(3n)(g)3.
3. The recipient shall be promptly informed in writing if his or her payments under
par. (am) are to be discontinued pending the hearing decision.
48.57(3n)(h)
(h) A county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department may recover an overpayment made under
par. (am) from a long-term kinship care relative who continues to receive payments under
par. (am) by reducing the amount of the long-term kinship care relative's monthly payment. The department may by rule specify other methods for recovering overpayments made under
par. (am). A county department that recovers an overpayment under this paragraph due to the efforts of its officers and employees may retain a portion of the amount recovered, as provided by the department by rule.
48.57(3p)(a)(a) In this subsection, "adult resident" means a person 18 years of age or over who lives at the home of a person who has applied for or is receiving payments under
sub. (3m) or
(3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) with the intent of making that home his or her home or who lives for more than 30 days cumulative in any 6-month period at the home of a person who has applied for or is receiving payments under
sub. (3m) or
(3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b).
48.57(3p)(b)1.1. After receipt of an application for payments under
sub. (3m) or
(3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b), the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall conduct a background investigation of the applicant.
48.57(3p)(b)2.
2. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any person who is receiving payments under
sub. (3m) at the time of review under
sub. (3m) (d) or at any other time that the county department or department considers to be appropriate.
48.57(3p)(b)3.
3. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any person who is receiving payments under
sub. (3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) at any time that the county department or department considers to be appropriate.
48.57(3p)(c)1.1. After receipt of an application for payments under
sub. (3m) or
(3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b), the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall, in addition to the investigation under
par. (b) 1., conduct a background investigation of all employees and prospective employees of the applicant who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made and of each adult resident.
48.57(3p)(c)2.
2. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any of the employees or prospective employees of any person who is receiving payments under
sub. (3m) who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made and of each adult resident at the time of review under
sub. (3m) (d) or at any other time that the county department or department considers to be appropriate.
48.57(3p)(c)2m.
2m. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, may conduct a background investigation of any of the employees or prospective employees of any person who is receiving payments under
sub. (3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) who have or would have regular contact with the child for whom payments are being made and of each adult resident at any time that the county department or department considers to be appropriate.
48.57(3p)(c)3.
3. Before a person who is receiving payments under
sub. (3m) or
(3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) may employ any person in a position in which that person would have regular contact with the child for whom those payments are being made or permit any person to be an adult resident, the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall conduct a background investigation of the prospective employee or prospective adult resident unless that person has already been investigated under
subd. 1.,
2. or
2m.
48.57(3p)(d)
(d) If the person being investigated under
par. (b) or
(c) is a nonresident, or at any time within the 5 years preceding the date of the application has been a nonresident, or if the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department determines that the person's employment, licensing or state court records provide a reasonable basis for further investigation, the county department or department shall require the person to be fingerprinted on 2 fingerprint cards, each bearing a complete set of the person's fingerprints. The department of justice may provide for the submission of the fingerprint cards to the federal bureau of investigation for the purposes of verifying the identity of the person fingerprinted and obtaining records of his or her criminal arrest and conviction.
48.57(3p)(e)
(e) Upon request, a person being investigated under
par. (b) or
(c) shall provide the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department with all of the following information:
48.57(3p)(e)3.
3. Other identifying information, including the person's birthdate, gender, race and any identifying physical characteristics.
48.57(3p)(e)4.
4. Information regarding the conviction record of the person under the law of this state or any other state or under federal law. This information shall be provided on a notarized background verification form that the department shall provide by rule.
48.57(3p)(fm)1.1. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department may provisionally approve the making of payments under
sub. (3m) based on the applicant's statement under
sub. (3m) (am) 4m. The county department or department may not finally approve the making of payments under
sub. (3m) unless the county department or department receives information from the department of justice indicating that the conviction record of the applicant under the law of this state is satisfactory according to the criteria specified in
par. (g) 1. to
3. or payment is approved under
par. (h) 4. The county department or department may make payments under
sub. (3m) conditioned on the receipt of information from the federal bureau of investigation indicating that the person's conviction record under the law of any other state or under federal law is satisfactory according to the criteria specified in
par. (g) 1. to
3.
48.57(3p)(fm)1m.
1m. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department may not enter into the agreement under
sub. (3n) (am) 6. or make payments under
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) unless the county department or department receives information from the department of justice relating to the conviction record of the applicant under the law of this state and that record indicates either that the applicant has not been arrested or convicted or that the applicant has been arrested or convicted but the director of the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the person designated by the secretary to review conviction records under this subdivision determines that the conviction record is satisfactory because it does not include any arrest or conviction that the director or person designated by the secretary determines is likely to adversely affect the child or the applicant's ability to care for the child. The county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the department may make payments under
sub. (3n) or
s. 48.62 (5) (a) or
(b) conditioned on the receipt of information from the federal bureau of investigation indicating that the person's conviction record under the law of any other state or under federal law is satisfactory because the conviction record does not include any arrest or conviction that the director of the county department or, in a county having a population of 500,000 or more, the person designated by the secretary to review conviction records under this subdivision determines is likely to adversely affect the child or the applicant's ability to care for the child.