Maryland Kinship Care Document Checklist for Benefits

Missing paperwork is one of the top reasons kinship caregivers in Maryland have their benefit applications denied. The local DSS must verify several facts about the child and your relationship before approving TCA, SNAP, or Medicaid — and the documents overlap enough across programs that gathering them once can serve all three applications.

Child Identity and Age

Primary: the child's official birth certificate or Form DHS-FIA 0020.

Alternatives: hospital birth record, baptismal certificate, U.S. passport, or a school cumulative record showing the child's date of birth. If the birth certificate is out of state and hard to obtain, the local DSS is legally obligated to help you get it rather than deny the application.

Social Security Number

Primary: the child's Social Security card.

Alternatives: an official SSA application receipt or an electronic verification through the state's SSA interface. For a child-only TCA case, you are not required to provide your own Social Security number — only the child's.

Maryland Residency

Primary: a lease, utility bill, or mortgage statement in your name at the Maryland address where the child lives.

Alternatives: Form DHS-FIA 1130 (Verification of Rent and Living Arrangements), a landlord statement, or a caseworker home visit confirming residency.

Relationship to the Child

Primary: birth certificates showing the family lineage between you and the child, or a court custody/guardianship order.

Alternatives: school enrollment records listing you as the caregiver, a medical consent affidavit, or a sworn relative statement. The state accepts these during initial intake while you work on obtaining vital records.

Child's Income

Primary: child support court orders and CSA disbursement statements, SSA benefit letters, or trust documentation.

Alternatives: bank statements showing deposits, or Form DHS-FIA 247 (employer earnings form) if the child works. If the child has no income of any kind, you sign a statement of zero income on behalf of the child.

Records for Emergency Support or CCS Freeze Exceptions

Kinship status or family hardship alone does not exempt an applicant from the Child Care Scholarship waitlist. If you apply under a CCS freeze exception, gather records showing that specific status, such as TCA/TANF or SSI enrollment, an enrolled sibling, qualifying unemployment or government furlough, child care employment, or homelessness. For a Kinship Navigator emergency-fund request, records that show the urgent need may include:

• Incarceration records or release notices for the parent
• Medical records documenting parental illness or disability
• Death certificates if a parent has died
• Police reports or protective orders in domestic violence cases
• DSS placement or referral letters
• A sworn caregiver statement describing the circumstances

What Happens When Something Is Missing

If you cannot produce a document at filing, the local DSS issues Form DHS-FIA 1052 (Request for Information to Verify Eligibility) with a minimum 10-day deadline. Request the maximum time allowed and ask whether the DSS can help obtain the record through its own data systems. Many verifications — SSA matches, wage database checks, vital statistics lookups — can be handled electronically by DSS staff.

The Maryland Financial Help Guide includes a printable evidence-collection worksheet listing every document by program, with columns for the status of each record and where it is stored — so you know what you have and what is still outstanding before your caseworker interview.

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