Children's Aid Society Kinship Service Ontario: Financial Support and What to Expect

When a Children's Aid Society places a child with a relative in Ontario, the financial picture looks different from informal kinship care — but not always in the way people expect. Kinship service caregivers are not foster parents, and the money available through CAS is discretionary, not guaranteed.

What Kinship Service Actually Means

Under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, kinship service is the middle ground between informal family arrangements and formal foster care. A CAS has assessed your home, determined the child needs protection, and placed the child with you — but you have not been licensed as a foster parent. The child may remain in the legal custody of the parent, or the CAS may hold an interim order.

The important financial distinction: because you are not a licensed foster parent, you do not receive foster per diem payments. But you retain eligibility for Temporary Care Assistance and the Canada Child Benefit, which formal foster parents lose.

Financial Support Through CAS

CAS kinship service supports are discretionary and vary by agency. Ontario has 50 children's aid societies, including 13 Indigenous societies. What is typically available:

Start-up assistance — one-time funds for immediate essentials when a child unexpectedly arrives. This may cover a bed, crib, car seat, safety gates, school supplies, or emergency food and clothing vouchers. The amount varies by agency and case.

Episodic maintenance grants — payments for extraordinary expenses that arise during the placement. Therapeutic assessments, tutoring, or respite care may qualify. These are case-by-case decisions, not entitlements.

Legal fee assistance — some CAS agencies contribute toward legal costs if you are pursuing a custody or decision-making responsibility order under the Children's Law Reform Act with agency support.

These CAS payments are exempt as income under Ontario Works rules, so they do not reduce your TCA. They are also non-taxable.

What You Still Get on Your Own

While receiving kinship service supports, you remain eligible for:

• TCA — $274/month for the first child in southern Ontario, assessed on the child's income and assets (with a $500 non-exempt asset limit)
• Canada Child Benefit — paid directly to you as the primary caregiver
• Ontario Child Benefit — paid alongside the CCB
• Health coverage — mandatory OW health benefits for the child (prescriptions, dental, vision)

This is the core advantage of kinship service over formal foster care: you keep the statutory benefits while gaining access to discretionary CAS funding on top.

The CAS Fear

Many relatives avoid contacting a CAS because they worry the agency will take the child away. This fear is understandable. When a CAS places a child with a relative through kinship service, it is choosing a family placement for that stage of the case. The CAS assessment is part of the child-protection process, and the agency continues to oversee the placement.

That said, kinship service does come with CAS oversight. Your kinship worker will conduct periodic visits, and the placement operates under the CYFSA framework. If you want the financial benefits without CAS involvement, informal kinship care with TCA and CCB alone may be the better path.

When the CAS File Closes

If the CAS determines the child no longer needs protection and closes its file, your CAS discretionary payments end. But your TCA and CCB/OCB continue without interruption — those benefits are administered by Ontario Works and the CRA, not the CAS.

This is a safety net worth knowing about. Some caregivers resist CAS involvement because they fear losing everything if the agency closes the case. In reality, the core funding streams are independent of CAS status.

For the complete breakdown of CAS kinship service funding — including how to ask for discretionary grants, what happens when a CAS file transitions to a formal foster placement, and how to stack CAS supports with TCA and federal benefits — our Ontario Kinship Financial Help guide covers it in one place.

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