Kinship Foster Care
When a child is removed from the home, Child Welfare will first attempt to identify a family member or friend as the preferred placement. This type of placement is referred to as Kinship foster care. A Change in Placement Form should be received by the district office indicating the child has been moved (see “Juvenile Quick Reference Table” documents and resources document for additional indicators). The child could be placed in the home of a person related by:
- Blood
- Marriage
- Adoption
- Emotional bond
Kinship placement can be non-funded, funded through Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF), or funded through foster care. A kinship parent may not be certified to receive foster care funding at the time of placement. Therefore the placement may begin as non-funded or funded through TANF. The certification process includes training and other requirements, during which the foster parent might receive start-up and training stipends. These stipends are not considered foster care payments. If/when the foster parent becomes certified, foster care maintenance payments will begin and TANF payments should terminate.
If there is an overlap of TANF and foster care payments, current support will be charged as foster care on the arrearage computation (A/C). In addition, the case should be referred to:
- Family Support for termination of TANF and
- Child Welfare foster care worker for recovery of overpayment (this will not be a CSS overpayment).