U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Administration for Children and Families

Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Children’s Bureau

Child Welfare Information Gateway

Children’s Bureau/ACYF

1250 Maryland Avenue, SW

Eighth Floor

Washington, DC 20024

800.394.3366

Email: info@childwelfare.gov

www.childwelfare.gov

FACTSHEET 

FOR FAMILIES

December 2010

Kinship Caregivers and 

the Child Welfare System

What’s Inside:

• Different types of kinship care

• How the child welfare system 

becomes involved in kinship care 

• What to expect from the 

child welfare system

• Services

• Involvement of the courts

• Permanent families for the children

• Further resources

A number of grandparents and other relatives 

find themselves serving as parents for children 

whose own parents are unable to care for them. 

Sometimes, the arrangement (referred to as 

“kinship care”) is an informal, private arrangement 

between the parents and relative caregivers; 

in other situations, the child welfare system is 

involved. This factsheet is designed to help kinship 

caregivers—including grandparents, aunts and 

uncles, and other relatives caring for children—

work effectively with the child welfare system.
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The child welfare system varies from State 

to State, but it generally includes public 

agencies such as departments of social 

services or family and children’s services. 

These State agencies often work with private 

child welfare agencies to provide services 

for families and children. Caseworkers at 

these agencies are required by law to ensure 

the safety, well-being, and permanent 

living arrangements of children. Their 

responsibilities include investigating reports 

of child abuse and neglect and arranging for 

services for children and families. 

This factsheet addresses a number of topics 

relevant for kinship caregivers:

• Different types of kinship care, including 

private, voluntary, and formal care

• How and when the child welfare system 

becomes involved in kinship care

• What kin caregivers might expect from 

the child welfare system 

• Services that may be available and how to 

access them

• Involvement of the courts 

• Permanent living arrangements for the 

children

• Resources

Different Types 

 of Kinship Care

Children may come to live with their 

grandparents or other relatives in a number 

of ways, and only some of these ways 

involve the child welfare system. Kinship 

care arrangements fall roughly into three 

categories: (1) informal kinship care, (2) 

voluntary kinship care, and (3) formal 

kinship care.

(1) Informal kinship care refers to 

arrangements made by the parents and 

other family members without any 

involvement from either the child welfare 

system or the juvenile court system. 

A parent may leave children with a 

grandparent while he or she is sent overseas, 

or an aunt may care for nephews whose 

parents are ill or otherwise unable to care 

for them. In this type of arrangement, the 

legal custody of the children remains with 

the parents, and the parents can legally 

take back the children at any time. The kin 

caregivers in these circumstances may have 

difficulty enrolling the children in school, 

obtaining health insurance, authorizing 

medical care, and obtaining some other 

benefits, because they do not have legal 

custody of the children. Generally, the only 

type of financial assistance available to kin 

caregivers in this type of arrangement is the 

child-only TANF benefit (see below under 

“Services”).
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Physical custody refers to where the 

child lives. If your grandchildren or 

niece and nephew live with you, you 

have physical custody of them. You may 

feed and clothe them, help them with 

their homework, and take care of them 

when they are sick.

Legal custody refers to the legal right to 

make decisions about the children, such 

as where they live. Parents have legal 

custody of their children unless they 

voluntarily give custody to someone 

else (e.g., the parent is sent overseas) or 

a court takes this right away and gives 

it to someone else. For instance, a court 

may give legal custody to a relative or 

to a child welfare agency. Whoever has 

legal custody can enroll the children in 

school, give permission for medical care, 

and give other legal consents.

The same person does not necessarily 

have both physical and legal custody. 

For instance, as a grandparent, you 

may have physical custody of your 

grandchildren because they live with 

you, but their mother or father may still 

have legal custody or the State agency 

may have legal custody.

(2) Voluntary kinship care refers to 

situations in which the children live with 

relatives and the child welfare system is 

involved, but the State does not take legal 

custody. In some cases, children have been 

placed with relatives by a court, and in other 

cases an arrangement is made by the child 

welfare agency with no court involvement.1

This type of kinship care covers a wide 

variety of circumstances and varies greatly 

from State to State. Some situations that 

might result in voluntary kinship care 

include:

• Child welfare workers find signs of 

abuse or neglect by the parents, but the 

evidence is not serious enough to take the 

children into State legal custody; instead, 

the caseworkers, parents, and kin work 

out a voluntary kinship care arrangement 

where the children move in with the kin.

• Under the guidance of child welfare 

workers, parents voluntarily place their 

children with relatives while they (the 

parents) receive treatment for substance 

abuse or mental illness.

Some jurisdictions will require the parents 

to sign a voluntary placement agreement 

with the child welfare agency when the 

children are placed with relatives. In many 

situations, the kinship care arrangement 

comes about because the parents understand 

that if they refuse to voluntarily place the 

children with kin, the child welfare agency 

will go to court and ask the judge to remove 

the children from the parents’ care and 

award legal custody to the State.

In voluntary kinship care, the children are 

in the physical custody of the relatives but 

they may remain in the legal custody of 

the parents, or the parents may sign over 

temporary legal custody to the kin. Some 

States have consent forms that parents can 

sign to allow kin caregivers to have some 

1 For a fuller discussion about this type of kinship care, 

see Ehrle, Geen, and Main’s (2003) “Kinship Foster Care: 

Custody, Hardships, and Services” at www.urban.org/urlprint.

cfm?ID=8649.
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temporary decision-making power regarding 

the children (for instance, to seek medical 

treatment or enroll the children in school).

(3) Formal kinship care refers to cases 

in which the children are placed in the 

legal custody of the State by a judge, 

and the child welfare system then places 

the children with grandparents or other 

kin. In these situations, the child welfare 

agency, acting on behalf of the State, has 

legal custody and must answer to the 

court, but the kin have physical custody. 

The child welfare agency, in collaboration 

with the family, makes the legal decisions 

about the children, including deciding 

where they live. The child welfare agency 

is also responsible for ensuring that the 

children receive medical care and attend 

school. If the court has approved visitation 

with parents, the child welfare system is 

responsible for making sure that the visits 

occur between parents and children. In 

formal kinship care, the child’s relative 

caregivers have rights and responsibilities 

similar to those of nonrelative foster 

parents.

How the Child Welfare 

System Becomes 

Involved in Kinship Care

The involvement of the child welfare system 

in kinship care situations varies from State 

to State, since each State has its own laws 

and practices that govern these situations; 

it also varies from case to case, depending 

on the children’s age, safety needs, the legal 

custody, and other differences. If American 

Indian or Alaska Native children are 

involved, the Federal Indian Child Welfare 

Act must be followed.2

The child welfare caseworker may be 

the person who initially approaches a 

grandparent or other relative and asks that 

person to take care of the children. In other 

situations, the family may contact the child 

welfare system for help. Some examples 

of these two types of contact are discussed 

here.

The Child Welfare System Makes 

the Contact

• A report of child abuse or neglect is 

made. Child protective services screen 

reports of child abuse and neglect, 

according to State policies and practices. 

If investigators believe that children 

are in danger in their own home, they 

may be removed. Since the passage of 

the Fostering Connections to Success 

and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008, 

agencies are required to exercise due 

diligence in finding and notifying all 

grandparents and other adult relatives 

within 30 days after children are 

removed. Caseworkers often ask a relative 

to keep the children until the case goes 

to court. If the case goes to court and the 

charges are proven, the court and the 

child welfare system may select relatives 

to care for the children until a parent can 

safely care for them, or an alternative 

placement may be made.

2 The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), P.L. 95-608, states that 

Tribes have the right to be involved in the child welfare and 

placement of tribal children. For more information, visit the 

website of the National Resource Center for Tribes at www.

nrc4tribes.org.
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• Parents are arrested. Police may arrest a 

parent or parents but be willing to leave 

the children with a relative. The police 

then notify the child welfare agency of 

this temporary placement. Depending on 

the State laws and practice, the agency 

may leave the children with the relatives, 

take them into the State’s legal custody 

and place them into nonrelative foster 

care, or take them into State custody but 

place them with the relatives.

• Parents die. In the event that both 

parents die or the parent with custody 

dies, the child welfare system may be 

responsible for locating relatives with 

whom the children can live. If no 

relatives can be located who are willing 

to take the children, they come into the 

legal custody of the State and may be 

placed into nonrelative foster care.

Parents or Other Family Members 

Make the Contact

• A parent leaves the children with 

grandparents or other relatives and 

does not return. This abandonment by 

a parent, even if it is temporary, may 

prompt the kin caregivers to call child 

welfare services and ask for help. In these 

situations, caseworkers may be able to 

offer services or they may help the kin 

to seek temporary legal custody through 

the court. However, if the parent remains 

missing and the kin cannot continue to 

care for the children, the children may be 

taken into the State’s legal custody and 

placed in another home.

• Grandparents or other kin are no 

longer able to care for children under 

an informal arrangement. In these 

situations, the kin caregiver may have 

planned to care for the children for a 

long time without agency help, but an 

unexpected circumstance forces the 

caregiver to seek help from the child 

welfare agency. For instance, the caregiver 

may become ill, a child may suddenly 

need special services, or the caregiver may 

lose a job and no longer be in a position 

to financially support the children. The 

child welfare worker may be able to help 

arrange services for the kin caregiver 

or arrange other placements for the 

children.

• Parents voluntarily give up custody 

due to their own illness. Parents 

suffering from mental illness or from 

a debilitating illness such as HIV/AIDS 

may contact the child welfare agency 

themselves and ask the agency to take 

their children into legal custody. In 

such situations, caseworkers may seek 

out relatives with whom the children 

can be placed (physical custody), rather 

than placing them with unrelated foster 

parents. Many States have standby 

guardianship laws to address the needs 

of parents with debilitating or terminal 

illness. For more information on these 

State laws, see Information Gateway’s 

Standby Guardianship: www.childwelfare.

gov/systemwide/laws_policies/statutes/

guardianship.cfm 

• Parents no longer want a child or 

children to live with them. In such 

situations, the parents may turn over 

custody to the child welfare agency. This 

is more common when the children are 

teenagers. Most child welfare agencies 

are reluctant to take custody in these 

situations. However, if they do, the child 
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welfare workers may look for relatives 

with whom the children can live. 

What to Expect from the 

Child Welfare System

After the children are placed in their home, 

kin caregivers may wonder what they can 

expect in their future dealings with the 

child welfare system. Much of the ongoing 

relationship with child welfare will depend 

on whether the legal custody of the children 

remains with the parents or kin caregiver 

(voluntary kinship care) or with the State 

or child welfare agency (formal kinship 

care). These two situations are addressed 

separately below:

Voluntary kinship caregivers may expect 

a range of assistance from child welfare 

caseworkers. In States where this type of 

arrangement is accepted and promoted 

by child welfare, kinship caregivers may 

find that caseworkers are involved in the 

following ways:

• Ensuring safety. Caseworkers may need 

to ensure that the kin caregivers and their 

homes meet minimal requirements for 

the safety of the children. For instance, 

most States require that child welfare 

workers check on whether anyone in 

the household has a criminal record or a 

previous record of child abuse or neglect. 

The primary concern of the caseworker is 

for the safety of the children. 

• Visiting. In some States, the caseworker 

may make periodic visits to ensure 

that the children remain in a safe 

environment.

• Offering services. Some States have 

services available for children and 

families in voluntary kinship care. For 

instance, these might include referrals 

to therapy for the children. (More 

information on “Services” is provided 

below.)

• Changing the custody status. If the 

children’s parent is not meeting the 

requirements set out in the service plan 

or if the children are placed in dangerous 

situations by the parent who has legal 

custody, the caseworker may help the 

kin caregiver to petition the court for 

temporary legal custody of the children. 

Or, the caseworker may go to court and 

petition to have the children placed in 

the legal custody of the State.

In some voluntary kinship cases, there 

may be very limited contact with the child 

welfare agency. Once the caseworker has 

completed background checks on the kin, 

the caseworker may be satisfied that the 

children are in a safe environment and may 

not contact kin again. In such situations, 

kinship caregivers who need help or services 

may need to contact the caseworker or 

locate community services themselves.

Formal kinship care includes much more 

involvement with the child welfare system, 

because the State has legal custody of the 

children. All States have requirements that 

nonkin foster parents must meet before they 

can care for children in their home through 

the foster care system. Also, kin caregivers 

are usually given some flexibility in the 

amount of time needed to meet the State’s 

requirements, because the placement of the 

children is often unexpected. 
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Compared to voluntary kinship placement, 

caregivers in formal kinship care will find 

that they have more structured involvement 

with the child welfare system, as well as 

access to more services. Caregivers may 

find that some of this structure is helpful in 

dealing with the children’s parents, schools, 

or medical care arrangements; on the other 

hand, caregivers have less freedom to make 

decisions on their own about the children. 

The following are some of the ways that the 

child welfare system may be involved in 

kinship foster care:

• Ensuring safety or licensing standards. 

Caseworkers will check to see if the 

kinship caregiver or any other adult 

living in the home has a criminal record 

or a record of child abuse or neglect. 

Caseworkers may be required by the 

State to consider the size of the home, 

the income of the caregiver, others 

who live in the home, and available 

transportation. While the passage of the 

Fostering Connections Act in 2008 gave 

States the option to waive nonsafety 

licensing standards on a case-by-case basis 

in order to place children with relatives, 

most States require relative caregivers to 

complete all standard requirements for 

licensure. Some States will waive some 

requirements if they do not affect the 

child’s health or safety. Kinship caregivers 

may be required to enroll in foster parent 

training. Caregivers should ask whether 

they are required to be licensed in order 

to care for the children, and whether 

licensing will allow them to receive foster 

care payments.

• Supervision/Support. The caseworker 

will support all the family members to 

ensure the children are safe and doing 

well. To do this, part of the caseworker’s 

job includes making telephone calls 

and periodic visits to the home. The 

caseworker may also provide referrals 

for services, such as counseling. In most 

situations, the relative caregiver will be 

the person who takes the children to the 

doctor or health clinic and deals with any 

school situations. In some situations, the 

caseworker will have more responsibility 

for making arrangements for these 

services. The caseworker and family 

members, including the kin caregivers, 

should work together to ensure that the 

children’s needs are met. 

• Arranging parent-child visits. In most 

situations, the court will encourage the 

parent or parents to visit their children. 

The caseworker will work with the 

parents and kin caregivers to set up the 

schedule and make arrangements for 

the visits. In some cases, kin caregivers 

may be responsible for providing 

transportation for the children or for 

supervising the visits in their own home.

• Service planning. With input from the 

parent(s) and often from the children, 

other relatives, and other involved adults, 

the child welfare agency will develop a 

service plan (sometimes called a “case 

plan” or “permanency plan”). The service 

plan covers two major issues:

1. A permanency goal for each child. 

The permanency goal states where 

that child will grow up. In most 

situations, the permanency goal 

for a child is to move back with a 

parent (sometimes called “family 

reunification”). Many States 

require “concurrent planning,” 
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which means that the child welfare 

agency must create a primary plan 

and a backup plan. Often, the 

primary plan or goal will be to 

return the child to a parent. If this 

is not possible, the backup plan 

may be for the kin caregiver to 

become the child’s adoptive parent 

or legal guardian. 

2. Actions that the parent and child 

welfare system need to take so 

that the children can be allowed to 

return home to that parent or so 

that another permanency goal can 

be achieved. For parents who have 

abused alcohol or drugs, the service 

plan will state that the parent must 

successfully complete substance 

abuse treatment. For parents who 

have abused or neglected their 

children, the plan may include 

parent training. There may also be 

requirements for others involved 

with the children. 

Service plans should be reviewed at least 

every 6 months to see if everyone is meeting 

their goals. Kinship foster caregivers should 

be involved in or consulted about the 

QUESTIONS FOR THE NEW KIN CAREGIVER TO ASK THE CHILD WELFARE

CASEWORKER ABOUT TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CHILDREN:

• Who has legal custody of the children?

• What rights and responsibilities does legal custody give in this State? Physical custody?

• May I receive a copy of the signed voluntary placement agreement? (when applicable)

• May I be involved in developing the service plan and receive a copy of the plan?

• Will I or the children have to go to court? 

• Who is responsible for enrolling the children in school, obtaining health insurance, granting 

permission for medical care and obtaining it, signing school permission forms, etc.?

• Will someone from child welfare services visit my home on a regular basis?

• What are the requirements for me and my home if I want the children to live with me?

• Are the requirements different if the children are with me just temporarily?

• What services are available for me and for the children, and how do I apply?

• Are there restrictions on the discipline I can use (such as spanking) with the children?

• What subsidies or financial assistance is available? What do I need to do to apply?

• Am I eligible to become a licensed foster parent and receive a foster care subsidy?
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creation of the plan and should receive 

copies of the plan.

Services

The child welfare agency is often involved 

in providing services to children and 

families or making referrals to other groups 

that provide services. Services and referrals 

are more likely to be available to children 

in formal kinship care than to those in 

voluntary kinship care. Early on in their 

involvement with the child welfare system, 

kin caregivers should ask about available 

services. Some of the different types are 

discussed below.

Therapy and Counseling

Children who have experienced abuse 

or neglect should be assessed to see what 

services they may need. Such services may 

include therapy or counseling. If children 

are assessed and it is determined that they 

require other special services, these may 

be available through child welfare agency 

referrals or through the schools. When 

the children are in the legal custody of 

the State, as in kinship foster care, it is the 

responsibility of the child welfare agency to 

have the children assessed and to arrange 

for needed services, although kin caregivers 

may have to take the lead in arranging for 

these services. Kin caregivers should also 

follow the progress of the children’s therapy 

and counseling.

Financial Support

Many grandparents and other relative 

caregivers struggle to provide for the 

children under their care. Depending on a 

number of factors, including the caregiver’s 

age, caregiver’s income, child’s income, 

child’s disability status, number of siblings, 

and the legal status of the caregiving 

arrangement (i.e., voluntary or foster care), 

there may be financial support available. 

Some of the programs include:

• The Temporary Assistance to Needy 

Families (TANF) program is designed 

to provide financial assistance while 

helping low-income families become selfsufficient. Caregivers do not need to have 

legal custody in order to apply for TANF 

benefits, but they do need to meet their 

State’s TANF definition of a kin caregiver. 

A caseworker can provide information or 

refer a caregiver to the correct place to 

find information on eligibility for TANF, 

how to apply for benefits, documents and 

other information needed, and whether 

to apply just for the children or for the 

entire family. Even if a relative caregiver 

or the caregiver’s family does not qualify 

for TANF benefits, it is possible to apply 

for and receive benefits for the relative 

children being cared for in the home. 

In these situations, only the children’s 

income is considered for eligibility. If the 

children have little or no income, it is 

likely that they will be eligible to receive 

TANF benefits, and these benefits will be 

available until their 18th birthday.

• Food stamps are available to families 

with incomes below a certain level. In 

this case, the entire household’s income is 

considered, and the relative children can 

be included in family size for determining 

benefit amount. A caregiver cannot apply 

for food stamps for the children only. 

Application for food stamps is generally 
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made at the same office where TANF 

applications are made. 

• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)

may be available to children or caregivers 

who are disabled. This is also available to 

anyone over age 65. Information about 

SSI benefits is available from the local 

Social Security office or online at 

www.socialsecurity.gov/ssi. 

• Kinship guardianship or foster care 

payments may be available to relative 

caregivers. The requirements for receiving 

these payments vary from State to 

State. However, since the passage of 

the Fostering Connections Act in 2008, 

States have the option to use title IV-E 

funds for kinship guardianship payments 

to support children and youth placed 

in guardianship arrangements with 

relatives.3 Relative caregivers who are 

licensed foster parents taking care of 

children placed with them by their local 

child welfare agency or court also may 

be eligible for such payments. These 

payments are generally higher than other 

forms of reimbursement, such as TANF. 

(Subsidized guardianship is described 

below under “Permanent Families for 

the Children.”) 

Health Insurance

Many children being raised by relatives are 

eligible for medical insurance through either 

Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance 

Program (CHIP). Medicaid provides coverage 

for many health-care expenses for lowincome children and adults, including 

3 States differ. To read the full text of the Federal Fostering 

Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, visit 

www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-6893.

visits to the doctor, checkups, screenings, 

prescriptions, and hospitalization. State 

CHIPs cover many of these costs for 

children who are not eligible for Medicaid, 

although each State has different rules for 

eligibility and coverage. In most cases, only 

the child’s income is used to determine 

eligibility for Medicaid or CHIP, not the 

income of the kin caregiver. The child 

welfare worker should be able to point the 

caregiver to the appropriate agency to apply 

for health insurance coverage through these 

programs. Every State permits grandparents 

or other kin caregivers to apply for Medicaid 

or a CHIP on behalf of the children for 

whom they are caring. Most States do not 

require the caregiver to have legal custody 

in order for the children to be eligible.

Respite Care

Grandparents and other relative caregivers 

seeking a break from full-time child care 

may find some relief in respite care. Respite 

care refers to programs that give caregivers a 

break by taking over care of the children for 

short periods of time—either on a regular 

schedule or when a caregiver needs to travel, 

go into the hospital, or otherwise be away 

for a few days. In some respite programs, 

a respite caregiver comes into the home 

to care for the children; in other cases, the 

children attend a camp or other program 

away from the home. 

Availability of respite care may be limited, 

and such availability may depend on the 

needs of the caregiver and/or the child. 

The child welfare agency should have more 

information about the availability of such 

programs, and caregivers should ask about 

these programs.
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Involvement of 

the Courts

Kin caregivers who are part of the foster care 

system are likely to have some involvement 

with the court—in most States, this occurs 

in a family or juvenile court.4 In cases in 

which the children have been removed 

from their parents because a parent has 

been accused of child abuse, neglect, or 

abandonment, the following steps may 

happen:

1. Child protective services 

investigators follow up on the 

report of child abuse, neglect, or 

abandonment.

2. If the investigators find enough 

evidence, they may decide to 

remove the children from their 

home for their own safety. The 

children may be placed with kin, 

who then have physical custody.

3. There is a preliminary hearing

(sometimes called an emergency 

removal or a shelter care hearing) 

before a judge. The investigator 

from the child welfare agency 

presents evidence for the legal 

finding of abuse or neglect, and 

the court determines whether to 

temporarily allow the children to 

be placed elsewhere, such as with 

the kin caregiver, until the trial. 

4 A full description of how the court process works in child 

welfare cases can be found in “The Court Experience” in Section 

5 of McCarthy et al.’s A Family’s Guide to the Child Welfare 

System at http://gucchd.georgetown.edu/72140.html.

4. At the trial (also called the 

“adjudicatory hearing”), the judge 

decides whether there is enough 

evidence to prove that child abuse, 

neglect, or abandonment actually 

happened. 

5. If the judge decides that the child 

or children should be removed 

from the parents, even temporarily, 

a dispositional hearing may also 

take place at this time. At this 

hearing, the judge determines 

where the children will live for the 

time being and who will have legal 

custody of them. For instance, the 

children may be taken into the 

custody of the State child welfare 

agency (legal custody) and then 

placed with kin (physical custody) 

in kinship foster care.

6. At least every 6 months after that, 

there will be review hearings

before the judge to determine how 

the parents are progressing with 

their service plan (for treatment, 

parenting classes, or other 

requirements), how the children 

are doing in the home of their kin 

caregiver, and whether the service 

plan or goals for the children 

should be revised.

7. In addition to the review hearings, 

a permanency hearing is held 

12 to 14 months after a child 

is removed from the home and 

every 12 months after that. At this 

hearing, the judge makes decisions 

about where the child will live 

permanently. The permanency 

hearing in court may involve a 
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number of individuals with an 

interest in the child, including 

parents, caseworkers, relatives, and 

foster care providers. Many of these 

parties will have lawyers, and at 

least one person will be appointed 

to represent the best interests of 

the child. This representative may 

be a lawyer, a guardian ad litem 

(usually a lawyer), or a community 

volunteer called a Court-Appointed 

Special Advocate (CASA). The child 

may have one or more of these 

representatives, depending on the 

State’s practice.

8. Another type of hearing that may 

or may not occur is a termination 

of parental rights hearing. Under 

the Federal Adoption and Safe 

Families Act (ASFA), there is a 

specific timeframe for parents to 

meet the goals in their service plan 

in order for their children to move 

back home with them. If parents 

are unable to do this and children 

spend 15 out of 22 months in 

foster care, the child welfare agency 

is required to seek termination of 

parental rights or to document 

their reasons for requesting a time 

extension. When parents’ rights are 

terminated in court, the parents no 

longer have any legal relationship 

to the child, and the child is free 

to be adopted by someone else. 

However, if the child is living 

with a relative and the State has 

decided that this is an acceptable 

permanency plan, then the agency 

does not need to ask the court to 

terminate the parents’ rights. 

Whenever possible, grandparents or 

other relative caregivers should make 

arrangements to attend court hearings; 

they may even be asked to testify at them. 

It is important for kin caregivers to give 

their view of the situation and to get a full 

understanding of the court’s decisions. It is 

also important for the caregiver to be there 

to support the children if they appear before 

the judge.

• When and where is the hearing?

• Is this a permanency hearing or a 

review hearing?

• What will be decided at the hearing?

• Who will be present?

• Who will have a lawyer?

• Do I need a lawyer? If so, who can help 

me find one?

• Who will represent the child or 

children? May I speak to that person?

• May I speak at the hearing?

• What is the schedule of future 

hearings?

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE 

CHILD WELFARE CASEWORKER

ABOUT COURT HEARINGS:

Permanent Families 

for the Children

“Permanency” is a term used by child 

welfare workers to mean a permanent 
Kinship Caregivers and the Child Welfare System

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www.childwelfare.gov

family or family relationship for a 

child. A “permanency plan” is a plan 

for determining where a child will grow 

up. Some of the options that might be 

considered by the court for permanency 

include reunification, guardianship, and 

adoption.

Reunification

Returning the children home and reuniting 

them with a parent or parents is the first 

choice of child welfare agencies when this 

option will ensure the safety and well-being 

of the children and provide a permanent 

family for them. Reunification of the family 

can occur when the judge agrees that the 

parents have met the goals set out in their 

service plan, for instance, completion of 

substance abuse treatment. Each State has 

different laws, and it is the judge in a review 

hearing or permanency hearing who makes 

the decision to give custody of the children 

back to the parent. The judge bases this 

decision on evidence from the parent, the 

child welfare worker and agency, other 

adults who may be involved, and often, the 

children and the kin caregiver. 

Guardianship

Guardianship is a legal option for 

permanency, and it may be especially 

appropriate in kinship care. Federal law 

encourages States to consider a relative 

rather than an unrelated person when 

seeking a guardian for a child who cannot 

return home.

When a grandparent or other relative 

becomes the child’s legal guardian, legal 

custody is transferred from the State 

to the relative by a court; therefore, in 

most circumstances there is no further 

involvement by the child welfare agency. 

In guardianship arrangements, the parents’ 

parental rights are not terminated. Thus, the 

grandparent or other relative who becomes 

a child’s guardian has legal and physical 

custody to act as the child’s parent and 

make decisions about the child, but the 

birth parent often retains some visitation 

or other rights. Guardianship is especially 

appropriate if the children are older and 

want to maintain some ties with their 

parents, or if the grandparent or other 

relative caregiver prefers not to have the 

parents’ rights terminated (as in adoption) 

but needs to establish a permanent legal 

arrangement with the children in order to 

be able to make education, health-care, and 

other decisions for the child. 

Some States have subsidized guardianship

programs so that the guardian continues to 

receive a payment similar to the payment he 

or she received as a foster parent. This allows 

the children to have a permanent family 

relationship without causing the guardian 

to lose necessary monthly subsidies. The 

Fostering Connections Act of 2008 gave 

States the option to use Federal title IV-E 

funds for kinship guardianship assistance. 

In subsidized guardianship, there is some 

ongoing involvement of the child welfare 

agency, although it is significantly less than 

in foster care. For instance, the child welfare 

worker may visit once a year to make sure 

that the child is still living with the relative 

and to determine if services are still needed.

Adoption

Some kin caregivers choose to adopt their 

grandchildren, nieces and nephews, or other 

relative children in order to give them a 
Kinship Caregivers and the Child Welfare System www.childwelfare.gov

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permanent home. Also, since adoption is 

often the agency’s preferred permanency 

plan for children not returning home, 

relatives may adopt in order to keep from 

losing the children to nonkin families 

who are willing to adopt them. Adoption 

assistance (subsidies) may be available to kin 

families who adopt.

As with foster care and guardianship, the 

child welfare agency will have to ensure that 

the home and prospective adoptive parents 

meet certain State standards for the safety 

and well-being of the children. Standards 

for adoption may be more stringent than 

those for foster care in some States. These 

requirements and standards will apply 

even for kin who have been caring for the 

children under a foster care arrangement.

Children can be adopted only after the 

court has terminated all the legal rights of 

the parents or the parents have voluntarily 

surrendered all of their rights permanently. 

A court must finalize the adoption. 

Depending on their age and the State law, 

courts will often ask the children if they 

agree to the adoption. For children with 

special needs who have been in foster care, 

there may be ongoing adoption assistance 

(subsidies) available to kin who adopt.

Once the adoption is finalized, the 

grandparent or other relative becomes 

the legal parent of the child; there is 

generally no further involvement by the 

child welfare agency after that finalization, 

except in circumstances involving adoption 

assistance. (For more information on 

adoption assistance, see Child Welfare 

Information Gateway’s Adoption Assistance 

for Children Adopted From Foster Care at www.

childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_subsid.cfm.)

QUESTIONS TO ASK THE 

CHILD WELFARE CASEWORKER 

REGARDING LONG-TERM 

ARRANGEMENTS:

• What is the current permanency goal 

for each child? (Siblings may not have 

the same goal.)

• What are options for the children 

if they can never return to their 

parents?

• What are my options if the children 

cannot return to their parents?

• Under what circumstances can I 

receive a subsidy to help pay for the 

children’s care?

• Will the legal arrangement be affected 

when the children turn 18?

• How will the child welfare agency 

continue to be involved with my 

family?

Conclusion

Dealing with the child welfare agency 

can be confusing and, sometimes, even 

frustrating for grandparents and other 

relatives who are trying to provide the best 

care they can for children whose parents 

cannot care for them. It may be helpful to 

keep in mind that child welfare caseworkers 

are following Federal and State requirements 

to ensure the safety and well-being of all 

children. Using the information in this 

factsheet may help kin caregivers work with 

the child welfare system to provide the best 
Kinship Caregivers and the Child Welfare System

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www.childwelfare.gov

outcomes, including a permanent family, for 

their relative children.

Resources

For information on the child welfare 

system

• How the Child Welfare System Works

(Child Welfare Information Gateway) 

www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/

cpswork.cfm

• A Family’s Guide to the Child Welfare 

System (National Technical Assistance 

Center for Children’s Mental Health at 

Georgetown University Center for Child 

and Human Development, Technical 

Assistance Partnership for Child and 

Family Mental Health at American 

Institutes for Research, Federation of 

Families for Children’s Mental Health, 

Child Welfare League of America, and 

the National Indian Child Welfare 

Association) http://gucchd.georgetown.

edu/72140.html

For information on kinship care

• State Factsheets on Kinship Care (Child 

Welfare League of America)—www.cwla.

org/programs/kinship/statefactsheets.htm

• Generations United—www.gu.org

• Grandfamilies State Law and Policy 

Resource Center—www.grandfamilies.org

• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

factsheet series (University of Georgia 

College of Family and Consumer 

Sciences)—www.fcs.uga.edu/ext/pubs/

ecd.php?category=Grandparents%20

Raising%20Grandchildren

• Through the Eyes of a Child—Grandparents 

Raising Grandchildren series (University of 

Wisconsin extension)—www.uwex.edu/

relationships

• Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (Full 

Circle of Care)—www.fullcirclecare.org/

grandparents/welcome.html

HOW THE CHILDREN’S BUREAU

SUPPORTS KINSHIP CARE

There may be a new kinship navigator 

program in your area. With the 

passage of the Fostering Connections 

Act in 2008, the Federal Government 

funded 24 Family Connection Grants, 

administered by the Children’s Bureau 

in the U.S. Department of Health and 

Human Services. Six of these grants are 

for kinship navigator programs, and 

seven more are combination project 

grants that also include a kinship 

navigator program. To learn if there is 

a new kinship navigator program in 

your area, visit the Family Connections 

Grants webpage: www.hunter.cuny.edu/

socwork/nrcfcpp/grantees.html