Colorado Relative Caregiver Stipend and Monthly Payment Amounts

One of the first questions any grandparent or relative raising a child asks: how much money can I actually get each month? The answer in Colorado depends on your legal arrangement with the child and whether the county child welfare system is involved. There are several distinct payment streams, and they don't all stack the same way.

Colorado Works Child-Only Grant (Any Relative)

This is the most widely accessible payment. Any relative by blood, marriage, or adoption within the fifth degree of kinship — grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, nieces, nephews, first cousins — can apply. A non-relative with a court guardianship order also qualifies.

Your income is completely excluded. The grant is calculated based solely on the child's countable income (primarily survivor benefits or child support received — SSI is excluded entirely).

Monthly Basic Cash Assistance (BCA) rates for child-only households under 9 CCR 2503-6-3.606:

These amounts are statewide. No work requirements apply, and the grant doesn't count toward the 60-month lifetime benefit limit. The child remains eligible until age 18 (or 19 if in high school full-time).

Some county materials cite older figures like "$141 per child." The current statewide standard is $173 for a one-child household, with the increments following the statutory scale above — not a flat per-child multiplication.

Certified Kinship Foster Care Rate (Child Welfare Placement)

If the child is in county child welfare custody and you've completed the full foster home certification process, you receive 100% of the state foster care maintenance rate. This is a daily rate that varies by the child's age and needs, and it's significantly higher than the child-only grant.

The certification process includes background checks, home safety inspections, and training. CDHS has created streamlined certification standards for kinship homes under SB 24-008, removing non-safety facility barriers to make licensing more accessible for relatives.

Children in certified kinship foster homes receive categorical Medicaid eligibility and qualify for Protective Services CCCAP without income requirements.

Non-Certified Kinship Payment — SB 24-008 (Child Welfare Placement)

When you're caring for a child through a child welfare placement but haven't completed full foster certification, SB 24-008 provides monthly financial assistance equal to 50% of the age-based state foster care rate beginning in state fiscal year 2026–27. The rate was 30% before then.

This payment is classified as exempt unearned income in CBMS. For SNAP, it may be excluded from household income if you elect to exclude the foster child from the SNAP household. The state reimburses counties 90% of the amount, which has helped expand access across all 64 counties.

Non-certified kinship payments require that the child be in the county's temporary legal custody. If you're raising a child informally (no child welfare involvement), this payment isn't available.

RGAP — Relative Guardianship Assistance Program

RGAP provides the most stable long-term payment. When a family transitions from certified foster care to permanent guardianship, RGAP payments continue monthly, capped at the foster care maintenance rate the child would have received.

Eligibility requires:

• At least six consecutive months in a certified kinship foster home (12 consecutive months for non-relative caregivers, with written consent from youth age 12 or older)
• Reunification and adoption ruled out as permanency options
• RGAP agreement signed before the court enters the guardianship order

Title IV-E RGAP agreements provide categorical Medicaid eligibility; non-Title IV-E state agreements require a separate Medicaid application. Up to $2,000 in nonrecurring adoption and guardianship legal expenses may be reimbursable per child.

County Supportive Payments (Variable)

Beyond the standardized state payments, counties can distribute supportive payments from their local TANF block grant reserves. These include gas cards, vehicle repair vouchers, emergency housing assistance, and one-time diversion grants. The amounts and availability vary widely across Colorado's 64 counties, and some counties have paused specific supportive payments due to budget constraints.

These are worth asking about at your county human services office. They're not always advertised, and they operate on county discretion rather than statewide rules.

What Stacks and What Doesn't

A common misconception: you can't receive a Colorado Works child-only grant and certified foster care maintenance payments simultaneously for the same child. Foster care payments replace child-only cash assistance during the placement period.

You can, however, combine different types of support:

• Child-only grant + SNAP + Medicaid (common for informal care)
• Foster care payments + Protective Services CCCAP + categorical Medicaid (certified placement)
• Non-certified SB 24-008 payment + SNAP (the payment may be excluded from SNAP household income if you elect to exclude the foster child from the SNAP household) + Medicaid application
• RGAP + Medicaid + CCCAP (post-guardianship)

The Colorado Kinship Financial Help Guide includes the full benefit eligibility matrix mapped to each legal arrangement, so you can see exactly which payments apply to your situation and how they interact.

See more Colorado guides →