What Help Is Available for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in Kentucky?

You are a grandparent in Kentucky raising a child who was not supposed to be yours to raise. The parent is gone — addiction, incarceration, death, or just gone — and the child is at your kitchen table. The question is not whether help exists. It does. The question is which programs apply to your situation, because the answer depends on how the child came to be in your home.

Cash Help: K-TAP Child-Only Grants

The biggest source of monthly cash for kinship caregivers is the K-TAP child-only grant through DCBS. This is the program most grandparents do not know they qualify for — or assume they do not because they have income.

The key fact: your income does not count. Under 921 KAR Chapter 2, when a relative caregiver applies for K-TAP on behalf of a child, the caregiver's Social Security, pension, wages, savings, and all other income are completely excluded. Only the child's own income (child support, survivor benefits) is evaluated.

Payment maximums by number of children: $372 for one, $450 for two, $524 for three, up to $964 for seven or more. The federal 60-month TANF time limit does not apply to child-only cases. You do not need a court order to apply.

Qualifying relatives include grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and siblings by blood, marriage, or adoption. Fictive kin — family friends without a legal or biological tie — do not qualify for K-TAP but may qualify for other programs below.

Full K-TAP details

Food Help: SNAP

Kentucky operates SNAP under Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility, which raises the gross income limit to 200% of the Federal Poverty Level and eliminates the asset test. A grandparent can hold retirement savings, own a home, and have a car without disqualifying the household.

K-TAP payments count as unearned income in the SNAP budget, but standard deductions, shelter expenses, and medical costs (for caregivers 60+) reduce countable income. Many kinship households qualify even with moderate fixed incomes.

Apply through kynect.ky.gov on the same application as K-TAP.

Full SNAP details

Health Coverage: Medicaid and KCHIP

Children in kinship care may qualify for Medicaid or KCHIP. If you do not claim the child as a tax dependent — most informal kinship caregivers do not — the child's eligibility is evaluated solely on the child's own income under MAGI non-filer rules. Children's Medicaid covers up to 154% FPL; KCHIP extends to 218% FPL.

No court order required. Apply through kynect or your county DCBS office.

Full Medicaid/KCHIP details

Childcare Subsidies: CCAP

The Child Care Assistance Program subsidizes childcare for working or student caregivers. The income limit is 160% of FPL at initial application and up to 200% of FPL (85% of Kentucky's SMI) at annual recertification. K-TAP child-only payments are excluded from the income calculation. Work requirement: 20 hours per week for a single caregiver, with an education eligibility route for qualifying students.

Children placed by DCBS child welfare get CCAP authorization without income or work verification.

Full CCAP details

If DCBS Is Involved: Placement Support, Foster Care, KinGAP

When a child enters your home through a DCBS child protection case rather than informally, additional benefits become available:

• Relative Placement Support Benefit — a one-time discretionary grant under 922 KAR 1:400 for relatives taking temporary custody during an active DCBS child protection intervention; it can help with immediate safety and placement needs such as bedding, clothing, and essential household items
• Kinship foster care — daily per diem payments ($27–$80.75/day depending on care level) if you become a certified relative foster parent
• KinGAP — ongoing monthly subsidy and Medicaid after at least six months of certified foster care, when the child exits to your permanent guardianship

Foster care and KinGAP details

Emergency Help

Benefit applications take 30–45 days. If the child just arrived and you need help now:

• Request expedited SNAP (7-day processing) if gross income is under $150/month and assets under $100
• Contact your Community Action Agency for LIHEAP utility assistance or emergency supplies
• If 55 or older, call your Area Agency on Aging for Family Caregiver Program emergency vouchers

Full emergency help details

Support and Navigation

The Kentucky Kinship Resource Center (877-565-5608, [email protected], text KINSHIP to 31996) connects you with navigators, peer support, and legal aid referrals. The KY-KINS program provides one-on-one peer matching with experienced kinship caregivers.

For a structured walkthrough of every benefit — application steps, documents needed, timelines, and what to do when something goes wrong — the Financial Help for Grandparents and Relatives Raising a Child in Kentucky guide organizes everything in one place.

See more Kentucky guides →