Maryland Kinship Care Legal Rights for Relative Caregivers

Taking in a grandchild or a niece doesn't automatically give you any legal standing in Maryland. That feels wrong — you're feeding, housing, and raising this child — but the law doesn't grant rights just because a child lives with you. The good news: Maryland gives you specific statutory tools to fill most of the gaps without going to court.

Your Statutory Rights as an Informal Caregiver

Maryland law provides two free, self-executing affidavits that grant targeted authority without a court order:

Healthcare Consent Affidavit (Health-General § 20-105): If you're a relative within the fifth degree of consanguinity — grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, first cousin, great-aunt or great-uncle — and the child is in your care due to a qualifying hardship (parental death, incarceration, substance abuse, illness, abandonment, or military deployment), you can execute a sworn affidavit granting you authority to consent to immunizations, emergency treatment, dental care, surgery, and mental health services. This affidavit is filed with the DHS Social Services Administration. It does not terminate the biological parent's right to consent — it runs alongside it.

School Enrollment Affidavit (Education § 7-101): Same eligibility criteria. This allows you to enroll the child free of charge in the public school system where you live. School districts encourage annual resubmission of the affidavit and supporting evidence before September 30; follow your district's instructions.

Your Rights in the Benefit Application Process

When applying for public assistance on behalf of a child, you have specific protections:

• No SSN requirement for caregivers: When filing a child-only TCA application, you are not required to provide your own Social Security number — only the child's.
• Authorized representative: Under Form DHS/FIA 9701 Section C, you can designate someone to complete interviews, submit evidence, and receive benefit notices on your behalf if you're homebound or elderly.
• Language access: DHS must provide free oral interpretation and translated written notices in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, French, Korean, Russian, and Spanish. This isn't optional — it's a Title VI mandate.
• Processing timelines: TCA applications must be processed within 30 calendar days. Medicaid within 45 days. If your application stalls, you can escalate through the local DSS constituent services office or the DHS State Customer Service Center at 1-800-332-6347.

Your Appeal Rights

If your application is denied, reduced, or terminated, you have a statutory right to a fair hearing before an Administrative Law Judge at the Maryland Office of Administrative Hearings. File Form DHS-FIA 334 within 30 days for TCA or Medicaid, or within 90 days for SNAP.

If you file within 10-15 days of the notice mailing date, your benefits continue at the pre-existing level while you wait for the hearing. One caution: if the ALJ upholds the agency's decision, you'll owe back any benefits paid during that appeal period.

You also have the right to inspect your complete agency case file, request copies of budget calculation worksheets, present witnesses, and introduce corrective documentation at the hearing.

What You Don't Have Without a Court Order

Informal care does not give you legal custody or guardianship. That means you cannot consent to adoption-related decisions, cannot prevent the biological parent from reclaiming the child (absent a safety concern), and cannot obtain a passport for the child. For these broader powers, you'd need to file a custody petition (CC-DR-004) in Circuit Court or a guardianship petition under Estates & Trusts § 13-201.

The Financial Help for Relatives Raising a Child in Maryland guide covers both your statutory rights and every financial benefit available to relative caregivers — including the appeal process with tracking tools so you never miss a deadline.

The key takeaway: you have more legal standing than you think through Maryland's affidavit system, and your income is fully protected from counting against the child's cash benefits under child-only TCA rules. What you're missing isn't rights — it's knowing the right forms to file and the right words to use at intake.

See more Maryland guides →