Alberta Kinship Care Payments and Rates for 2026
What Alberta Pays Kinship Caregivers
If Children and Family Services has placed a child in your home under a formal kinship care arrangement, you receive a daily basic maintenance per diem. The amount depends on the child's age and is set province-wide — the same rates apply whether your file is managed by a regional CFS office or a Delegated First Nation Agency.
As of April 1, 2026, Alberta applied a 2% increase across all caregiver per diems. The current daily rates are:
- Ages 0–1: $26.00 per day (~$780/month)
- Ages 2–5: $26.43 per day (~$793/month)
- Ages 6–8: $28.99 per day (~$870/month)
- Ages 9–11: $30.63 per day (~$919/month)
- Ages 12–15: $34.69 per day (~$1,041/month)
- Ages 16–17: $39.66 per day (~$1,190/month)
These per diems are non-taxable and do not count as income when the CRA calculates your Canada Child Benefit or Alberta Child and Family Benefit entitlement.
The Kinship Initial Placement Allowance (KIPA)
When a child is first placed in your kinship home, you can apply for KIPA — a one-time grant of up to $900 to cover immediate setup costs such as a bed, car seat, clothing, and school supplies. Your caseworker submits this through the Kinship Care Support Plan (Form FC11918).
For infants under 36 months, there is an additional setup allowance of up to $500 for essential baby gear, plus an ongoing $150 per month reimbursement for formula and diapers.
Supplementary Allowances Beyond the Per Diem
The daily per diem covers food, shelter, and basic living costs. On top of that, formal kinship caregivers can access:
- Babysitting relief: $2.82 per day per child automatically, plus reimbursement at $6.50/hour (up to $65/day per child) for individual babysitting costs
- Recreation: $675/year for children 0–11, $775/year for youth 12–17
- Camp and vacation: up to $500/year per child
- First Nations cultural travel: mileage at $0.570/km plus meal per diems for visits to a child's band community
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Who Qualifies for These Payments
Only relatives whose homes have been assessed and approved by Children and Family Services as a formal kinship placement receive per diems. The child must be in the care of the Director under CYFEA — typically through a Temporary Guardianship Order, Permanent Guardianship Agreement, or Permanent Guardianship Order.
If you are raising a relative's child through a private family arrangement with no CFS involvement, these kinship per diems do not apply. Your main financial routes are the Canada Child Benefit, the Alberta Child and Family Benefit, and potentially Income Support. Our Alberta kinship financial help guide maps every payment to every type of care arrangement so you can see exactly which benefits fit your situation.
What Happens When You Get a Private Guardianship Order
If you transition from a formal kinship placement to a Private Guardianship Order, you move off the per diem system and onto the Supports for Permanency (SFP) program. SFP pays the same age-based daily rates but adds significant extras — up to 576 hours of respite care per year, up to $70/week for emotional and behavioural support, and professional counselling sessions.
Since September 1, 2025, a $180,000 household income cap applies to the basic maintenance component of SFP for new orders. Families already receiving SFP before that date are grandfathered in.
For a full comparison of per diem rates, SFP supports, and the federal benefits you become eligible for after a Private Guardianship Order, the complete Alberta kinship financial help guide walks through every track step by step.
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