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Children’s Long-Term Support (CLTS) Provider Handbook

Section 1: Getting Started: What Is the Children’s Long-Term Support (CLTS) Program?

The Children’s Long-Term Support (CLTS) Program offers supports and services for eligible and enrolled children and young adults who have significant developmental, physical, or emotional disabilities and substantial limitations in multiple daily activities because of these disabilities. The CLTS Program supports children with disabilities to live in their homes, participate in their communities, and live their best lives.

The CLTS Program is a Medicaid home and community-based waiver program that is federally authorized under Section 1915(c) of the Social Security Act. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) and county waiver agencies (CWAs) partner to bring this program to Wisconsin families.

The primary values of the CLTS Program include:

  • Supporting individual choice.
  • Enhancing relationships.
  • Building accessible, flexible service systems.
  • Achieving optimum physical and mental health for the participant.
  • Promoting presence, participation, optimal social functioning, and inclusion in the community.

Who is eligible for the CLTS Program?

Children and youth who enroll in the CLTS Program are referred to as participants. To be eligible for CLTS, a participant must:

  • Be younger than age 22.
  • Be eligible for Wisconsin Medicaid.
  • Live at home, in foster care, or in another approved setting.
  • Have a disability (or disabilities) and substantial limitations in daily activities because of the disability

If you would like more information on how to refer someone to the CLTS Program, please see the Children’s Long-Term Support Program webpage.

What services and supports are available in the CLTS Program?

The key supports and services in the CLTS Program fall into the following categories:

Support services

  • Community/competitive integrated employment (CIE)
  • Day services
  • Discovery and career planning
  • Participant and family-directed goods and services
  • Personal supports
  • Respite
  • Transportation

Teaching and skills development

  • Counseling and therapeutic services
  • Daily living skills training
  • Empowerment and self-determination support
  • Family/unpaid caregiver supports and services
  • Grief and bereavement counseling
  • Health and wellness
  • Mentoring
  • Safety planning and prevention

Management and coordination

  • Community integration services
  • Participant- and family-directed broker services
  • Financial management services
  • Support and service coordination

Physical aids

  • Assistive technology
  • Communication assistance for community inclusion
  • Personal emergency response system
  • Specialized medical and therapeutic supplies
  • Vehicle modifications
  • Virtual equipment and supports

Housing related

  • Adult family home
  • Children’s foster care
  • Housing support services
  • Home modifications
  • Relocation services

What is the benefit of becoming a CLTS Program provider?

Enrolling as a CLTS Program provider means that CWAs, participants, and families recognize you as a DHS-enrolled provider who has met DHS provider standards. The CLTS Program Provider Directory allows CWAs and families to connect participants to providers in their area that match their individual needs. When you become a CLTS Program provider, you:

  • Support participants to live in their home and community.
  • Expand the reach of your business or services.
  • Become part of a network of DHS’s trusted providers.

How will participants and families find me?

Once you are enrolled, providers can connect with participants and families in three ways:

Public provider directory

Families, CWAs, and participants can search this list by the support or service (for example, respite care, transportation), by the county they are in, an address and a mileage radius for the address, or by the provider’s name.

Through CWAs

Providers build relationships with CWAs to share information about the services or supports they offer. This allows CWAs to match participants and families to providers who help meet their outcomes.

Through a financial management service (FMS)

Families may hire a worker directly. If they know someone who is qualified and willing to provide a CLTS Program support or service that helps meet their child’s goals but the person does not want to be hired through an agency, then the family can hire them directly with the assistance of an FMS.

Participants and families can hire care workers through an FMS agency to deliver the following services:

  • Daily living skills training
  • Mentoring
  • Personal supports
  • Respite
  • Specialized youth care
  • Transportation

Glossary