Child Support Obligations for Kinship Caregivers in Saskatchewan

Parents Still Have Financial Obligations

When a grandparent or relative takes over raising a child, the biological parents do not automatically lose their obligation to support that child financially. Whether you can actually collect child support — and whether it makes sense to pursue it — depends on your legal arrangement and the parents' circumstances.

This is one of the most misunderstood areas of kinship care. Here is how child support works across the three common care arrangements in Saskatchewan.

Under a Private Parenting Order (CLA 2020)

If you obtained decision-making responsibility through the Court of King's Bench under The Children's Law Act, 2020, you can apply for a child support order against both biological parents. The court uses the Federal Child Support Guidelines to calculate the amount based on the parents' income.

The Maintenance Enforcement Office (MEO) of Saskatchewan enforces court-ordered child support. If a parent does not pay, the MEO can garnish wages, intercept tax refunds, suspend driver's licences, and take other enforcement actions.

For grandparents who went the private parenting order route, child support can be a meaningful income stream — but only if the parents have verifiable income. If both parents are incarcerated, dealing with addiction, or have no stable employment, a court order exists on paper but produces nothing in practice.

Under a PSI Order (Child Welfare)

When a child is placed with you through a Person of Sufficient Interest order, the Ministry of Social Services pays your maintenance directly. The Ministry may independently pursue cost recovery from the biological parents, but that is the Ministry's process — not yours to manage.

PSI maintenance payments are not reduced by any child support the parents might pay. The two streams are separate. However, because the Ministry is involved, pursuing your own child support order against the parents while receiving PSI maintenance can create complications. Talk to your caseworker before filing separately.

Under Informal Care (No Court Order)

Without a court order, you have no legal mechanism to force either parent to pay child support. You can ask — and some parents do contribute voluntarily — but there is nothing enforceable.

If you want to pursue child support from an informal arrangement, you first need to establish a legal care arrangement. That means either a parenting order under CLA 2020 or, if the Ministry becomes involved, a PSI order. The court order is the prerequisite.

How Child Support Interacts with Other Benefits

Child support payments received by a kinship caregiver affect other benefits differently depending on the program:

• Canada Child Benefit: Not affected by child support income — CCB is based on your adjusted family net income from your tax return, and child support received is not taxable income
• Saskatchewan Income Support: SIS considers household income and other sources of money. Ask MSS how child support would be treated in your case before estimating your total support.
• Saskatchewan Employment Incentive: SEI eligibility is based on employment or self-employment income. Confirm with MSS how any child support interacts with your payment.
• PSI maintenance: Not affected by child support

The interaction with SIS is particularly important for low-income caregivers. Because SIS considers other sources of money, check with MSS before assuming child support will add its full amount to your monthly budget.

When Pursuing Child Support Makes Sense

Child support is worth pursuing when the biological parents have stable income and you are not relying on SIS as your primary support. It is especially valuable for grandparents with a CLA 2020 parenting order who cannot access PSI maintenance — child support may be the only parent-sourced income stream available.

It is less useful when parents have no income, when you are on SIS (where it reduces benefits dollar for dollar), or when the legal costs of obtaining the order outweigh what you would realistically collect.

Our Saskatchewan Kinship Financial Help Guide includes a benefits interaction worksheet that shows how child support, CCB, SIS, SEI, and PSI maintenance layer together in your specific arrangement, so you can make an informed decision about whether to pursue it.

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