Montana Kinship Foster Care vs Informal Care
When a Montana grandparent or relative takes in a child, the benefits available depend almost entirely on one question: did Child and Family Services Division (CFSD) place the child with you, or did you and the family work it out on your own? The two paths look similar from the outside — a relative raising a child — but they lead to very different financial support.
Informal Kinship Care
Informal care means the child came to live with you through a family arrangement. There is no court order removing the child from the parents' home, and CFSD is not involved. This is the most common kinship scenario in Montana.
With informal care, your primary financial support is the child-only TANF grant — up to $425 per month for one child, with your income completely excluded from the eligibility test. The child also qualifies for Healthy Montana Kids (Medicaid), SNAP (with your household income counted), and WIC if under 5.
What you cannot access through informal care: foster care maintenance payments, subsidized guardianship through CFSD, and the nonrecurring legal expense reimbursement (up to $2,000) that comes with the Title IV-E Guardianship Assistance Program.
Formal Kinship Foster Care (CFSD Placement)
Formal kinship foster care begins when CFSD removes the child from the parents' home — either through a court order or a voluntary placement agreement — and places the child with you as a relative. You then complete Montana's full youth foster care licensing process.
As a licensed kinship foster parent, you receive foster care maintenance payments, which are generally higher than TANF child-only grants and cover the child's room, board, clothing, personal needs, and supervision costs. The child receives Medicaid automatically, and you may qualify for additional supports through CFSD.
The critical advantage of formal placement is access to subsidized guardianship. After the child has lived in your licensed foster home for at least six consecutive months, you can negotiate a Subsidized Guardianship Agreement with CFSD before filing for legal guardianship. That agreement locks in a monthly payment (capped at the foster care rate), Medicaid for the child, and up to $2,000 in legal expense reimbursement. The Title IV-E version of this subsidy is portable — it follows you if you move to another state.
The Key Differences at a Glance
| Informal Care | CFSD Kinship Foster Care | |
|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Family arrangement, no CFSD involvement | CFSD removes child, places with relative |
| Licensing required | No | Yes — full foster care licensing |
| Monthly cash support | TANF child-only ($425/month for 1 child) | Foster care maintenance (generally higher) |
| Your income counted | Excluded from TANF; counted for SNAP | Excluded from foster care payments |
| Subsidized guardianship | Not available | Available after 6 months licensed care |
| Legal expense reimbursement | No | Up to $2,000 (Title IV-E) |
| Medicaid for child | Yes (apply separately) | Automatic |
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Can You Switch From Informal to Formal?
Not retroactively. If you are already caring for a child informally, you cannot ask CFSD to "make it official" and start receiving foster care payments. The formal path requires that CFSD take custody of the child through the child welfare system — which means a finding that remaining in the parents' home is contrary to the child's welfare.
If the child is already safe in your home through an informal arrangement, there is no child welfare reason for CFSD to intervene. Your path is child-only TANF, Medicaid, and the other public benefits available to informal caregivers.
The Montana Kinship Financial Help Guide maps both pathways in detail, including the documents you need for each and the exact steps to apply.
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