Maine Kinship Foster Care Payment Rates and How to Qualify

Two Very Different Payment Tracks

When a grandchild or relative's child lands in your home in Maine, the financial help you receive depends almost entirely on how the child got there. A child placed by DHHS through child protective services opens one door. A child who arrived informally — because a parent asked you to take them, or because circumstances left you no choice — opens a different one.

Kinship foster care payments are the first door. They are available only when DHHS has legal custody of the child and you become a licensed kinship foster parent.

How DHHS Kinship Placements Work

When the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) removes a child from a parent's home, Maine law gives a qualified adult relative preference over a nonrelative placement, except when documented facts show that the placement would interfere with active reunification. If you are identified as a suitable relative, OCFS will contact you about taking the child.

To receive foster care maintenance payments, you must go through OCFS's licensing process: a home study, background checks for all household members, safety inspections, and completion of required pre-service training. The licensing process is designed to be faster for kinship placements than for general foster families, but it still takes time.

What the Payments Cover

Foster care maintenance payments are meant to cover the child's basic daily needs — food, clothing, shelter, personal incidentals, and liability insurance with respect to the child. The rates are set by the child's age and assessed needs level.

Unlike TANF child-only grants or SNAP, foster care payments are not means-tested against your household income. You receive them because the state placed the child with you and you are providing licensed care.

When a child enters state custody, OCFS Financial Resource Specialists apply for MaineCare for the child.

The Path from Foster Care to Permanency Subsidy

Many kinship foster placements eventually move toward a permanent arrangement. If reunification with the parents is ruled out and adoption is not appropriate, the next step is often a Permanency Guardianship under 22 M.R.S. § 4038-D.

The guardianship subsidy is negotiated before the court order is signed, and the monthly rate cannot exceed the cost of keeping the child in state care. This means the financial support can continue at a similar level even after you leave the foster care system and become the child's permanent legal guardian.

The critical detail: the six consecutive months the child spends in your licensed kinship foster home are a prerequisite for federal Title IV-E Guardianship Assistance. Rushing to court for a guardianship order before completing this period can cost you significant ongoing financial support.

What If the Child Was Not Placed by DHHS

An informal family arrangement alone does not qualify for foster care payments or a state permanency guardianship subsidy. Section 4038-D also authorizes subsidies for children placed in a similar status by a Native American tribe, subject to its eligibility conditions. You may still have access to TANF child-only grants, where the caregiver is excluded from the assistance unit unless the tax-dependent rule affects the grant calculation, MaineCare for the child at up to 305% of the federal poverty level, SNAP, and childcare assistance through CCAP.

These programs are available regardless of whether you have a court order, a power of attorney, or just an informal arrangement.

The complete Maine kinship financial help guide covers both tracks in detail — the DHHS-involved foster care and guardianship path and the standard benefit programs available to every relative caregiver — with the specific steps, documents, and agency contacts for each.

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