Guardianship Allowance NSW

What the Guardianship Allowance Actually Is

A Section 79 Guardianship Order under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 transfers long-term parental responsibility from the Minister to you — the relative or kinship carer. Once that order is finalised, DCJ stops active case management. You are the child's legal guardian, and the Guardianship Allowance replaces whatever statutory or supported care allowance you were receiving.

The payment is benchmarked to the same rate table as the Statutory Care Allowance, so the dollar amounts are identical.

Guardianship Allowance Rates (From 1 July 2026)

Like all DCJ care allowances, the Guardianship Allowance is tax-exempt, not means-tested, and does not reduce your Age Pension, Carer Payment or any other Centrelink income support.

Guardianship vs Supported Care Allowance

Both pay the same fortnightly amount, but the administrative experience is different.

Supported Care Allowance — you have an active DCJ caseworker or accredited out-of-home care agency managing the placement. DCJ retains oversight. You must complete the periodic Carer Self-assessment and Application for Continuation of Supported Care Allowance form to keep payments running. Contingency funding for extraordinary expenses (therapy, dental, interstate family contact travel) is available through your caseworker.

Guardianship Allowance — DCJ case management ends once the Section 79 order is finalised. You deal directly with DCJ's Open Adoption and Permanency Services Unit for payment queries. There is no caseworker to submit contingency requests through, which means accessing emergency or discretionary funding is harder.

The trade-off is autonomy for support. Guardianship gives you full parental authority without ongoing agency oversight, but you lose the caseworker safety net that formal carers rely on for unexpected expenses.

How to Get a Section 79 Order

The pathway runs through the Children's Court, not the Family Court. DCJ must have been formally involved in the child's case — you cannot apply for a Section 79 order privately. The usual sequence is:

1. DCJ investigates a risk-of-significant-harm report and places the child with you
2. The Children's Court makes interim or final care orders
3. After a period of stable placement, DCJ or your accredited agency applies to the court for a guardianship order under Section 79
4. The court grants the order, transferring parental responsibility to you

If you are an informal carer raising a child without any DCJ involvement, Section 79 is not available to you. Your options are a parenting order through the Federal Circuit and Family Court under the Family Law Act 1975, or continuing without formal orders and claiming Centrelink benefits as a non-parent carer.

What Happens When the Child Turns 18

The Guardianship Allowance does not simply cut off at 18. DCJ has a leaving-care support framework:

• Age 18: $615 per fortnight (standard rate)
• Age 19: $453 per fortnight
• Age 20–24: $283 per fortnight

These are the transition rates listed for young people leaving care. Ask DCJ whether the rate for the young person's age applies to their circumstances.

Stacking Guardianship Allowance with Centrelink

You can receive both the DCJ Guardianship Allowance and Centrelink Family Tax Benefit — they are assessed by separate agencies under separate legislation. The DCJ allowance is not counted as income for any Centrelink means test. If the child has a disability, Carer Allowance ($153.50 per fortnight supplementary) and NDIS plan funding are also available alongside the guardianship payment.

Call the Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Adviser line on 1800 245 965 to check which Centrelink payments you can claim on top of your DCJ allowance.

The NSW Kinship Carer Support guide includes a claim-payment tracker and agency communication log so you can record every DCJ and Centrelink interaction in one place — useful when payments overlap and you need to show one agency what the other is paying.

See more New South Wales guides →