Delaware Financial Help for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Taking on the full cost of raising a grandchild — food, clothes, doctor visits, school fees — on a fixed income puts real financial pressure on a household that didn't budget for it. Delaware has several programs that can help, but they're split across different state agencies and have different eligibility rules, so finding the right combination takes some navigating.

Child-Only TANF Cash Grants

Delaware's Children's Program provides monthly cash assistance specifically for children living with a non-parent relative. The most important detail: your income does not count. DSS evaluates only the child's own income, such as survivor benefits or child support, and disregards the first $50 of child support received each month. A grandparent on Social Security can qualify for a child-only TANF grant regardless of their own earnings.

Current monthly payments range from about $241 for one child to $488 for four children. There are no work requirements and no time limit for non-needy caretakers.

Kinship Care Program Emergency Funds

If the child moved into your home within the last 180 days, your household income is below 200% FPL, and you have guardianship or are actively pursuing it, the Kinship Care Program can provide one-time help with beds, clothing, school supplies, and other immediate needs. This is a transition program, not ongoing support — but it covers costs that hit hardest in those first weeks.

Medicaid and Delaware Healthy Children Program

Children in relative care may qualify for Medicaid or the Delaware Healthy Children Program (DHCP/CHIP). Eligibility uses income and household-composition rules, so a caregiver's income may count depending on the child's tax-dependent and non-filer status. These income-based children's coverage routes do not use an asset test, so savings, a home, and a car do not affect eligibility. A child in a family receiving TANF may also qualify for Medicaid.

SNAP Food Benefits

Unlike TANF, SNAP evaluates the entire household that purchases and prepares food together. That means your income and the child's income are both counted. However, Delaware's Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility raises the gross income limit to 200% FPL and eliminates asset testing, so many kinship households qualify despite the caregiver's pension or Social Security.

Purchase of Care Childcare Subsidies

Delaware's Purchase of Care (POC) program helps with childcare if the income test is met (225% FPL at application; at redetermination, families between 200% and 325% FPL can receive a graduated 12-month phase-out) and there is a qualifying need, such as work, TANF or Food Benefit Employment and Training, job training, education, DFS protective services, or a documented special need. For a child living with a non-parent caretaker, DSS excludes the caretaker from the child-care assistance family group and counts the child's income.

Subsidized Guardianship Payments

Under 13 Del. C. § 2333, DSCYF may award subsidy money when Family Court finds grounds for guardianship and the child was in DSCYF custody for at least one year. DSCYF decides whether to award a subsidy and sets its amount and duration. A 2024 state cost analysis reported that DFS had not implemented a Title IV-E Guardianship Assistance Program.

Where to Start

Apply for TANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and POC through the ASSIST portal at assist.dhss.delaware.gov or at your county's State Service Center. For the Kinship Care Program, contact the State Service Center directly. For guardianship subsidies, work with your DFS caseworker.

The Delaware Financial Help for Kinship Caregivers guide puts all these programs side by side with eligibility rules, document checklists, and step-by-step application instructions.

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