Nebraska ACCESSNebraska and DHHS Benefits for Kinship Caregivers

The child is living with you, the parent is not providing financial support, and you need help covering food, medical care, and basic expenses. Nebraska DHHS operates programs specifically designed for relative caregivers raising children outside the foster care system — but the application process and the rules about what these programs actually authorize are different from what most caregivers expect.

ACCESSNebraska and iServe: Where to Apply

Nebraska DHHS consolidated its benefit applications through the ACCESSNebraska system, now transitioning to the iServe Nebraska self-service portal. Through these platforms, relative caregivers can apply for:

• Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) child-only grants — cash assistance for the child's basic needs
• Kids Connection (Medicaid/CHIP) — health insurance for uninsured children
• SNAP (food assistance) — supplemental food benefits for the household
• Heritage Health managed care enrollment — once approved for Medicaid, the child is enrolled in one of Nebraska's Heritage Health managed care plans (Nebraska Total Care, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, or Molina Healthcare)

Applications can be submitted online, by phone, or by requesting paper forms from DHHS. Language-accessible materials and interpreter services are available.

ADC Child-Only Grants

The ADC child-only grant is the most important financial tool for kinship caregivers. Under Nebraska's TANF program, a relative caregiver can apply for a cash grant where only the child's income and assets determine eligibility — the caregiver's own household income and assets are excluded from the calculation.

This means a working grandparent with a steady income can still qualify for ADC child-only assistance because the grant evaluates the child independently.

One requirement to know: receiving an ADC child-only grant requires the caregiver to assign the child's child support rights to DHHS. This allows the state to pursue child support enforcement against the biological parents to reimburse public funds. If a parent is already paying child support, that support may be redirected through DHHS while the grant is active.

Kids Connection Medicaid

If the child has no health insurance, Kids Connection provides Medicaid or CHIP coverage. The caregiver applies through ACCESSNebraska with the child's Social Security number, identity details, and household composition information.

Once approved, the child is enrolled in a Heritage Health managed care plan that covers doctor visits, dental care, mental health services, prescriptions, hospitalizations, and emergency care.

The Critical Distinction: Coverage Is Not Consent

This is where many caregivers get tripped up. Having the child's Medicaid card or private insurance card in your wallet means the child has health insurance coverage. It does not mean you have legal authority to consent to the medical care that insurance covers.

A pediatrician's office will verify that the child has active insurance — and then ask who has authority to consent to treatment. If you cannot show a valid § 30-2604 POA or court guardianship order, the clinic may refuse non-emergency care even though the child has full insurance coverage.

Coverage pays for the care. Consent authorizes the care. They are separate legal mechanisms, and one does not substitute for the other.

What Benefits Do Not Provide

Beyond the coverage-versus-consent distinction, kinship caregivers should understand that:

• ADC and Medicaid do not equal foster care payments. State foster care maintenance stipends are legally restricted to licensed foster parents caring for children who are formal wards of the state placed by DHHS court order. An informal caregiver using a § 30-2604 POA or NDE Rule 19 form does not qualify for foster care per diem, regardless of how long the child has been in their care.
• Benefits do not establish legal custody. Receiving ADC or Medicaid for the child does not change the legal custody arrangement. The biological parent retains their parental rights.
• SNAP household rules can be complex. SNAP evaluates who purchases and prepares food together. The caregiver can include the child in their SNAP household unit, but the calculation considers the full household's income and expenses.

Applying for Benefits While Getting Consent Paperwork in Order

The practical reality is that many kinship placements happen suddenly — the child arrives overnight, and the caregiver needs to apply for benefits, enroll the child in school, and get medical paperwork organized all at the same time.

A reasonable approach:

1. Apply for ADC child-only and Kids Connection through ACCESSNebraska or iServe; be prepared to provide proof of the child's identity and relative status if DHHS requests it
2. Execute a § 30-2604 POA with the parent as soon as possible — this gives you the medical consent authority that the insurance card alone does not provide
3. Enroll the child in school using the NDE Rule 19 form
4. Once the POA is in hand, deliver copies to the child's new healthcare providers alongside the insurance information

The LFS Kinship Navigation helpline (1-833-572-2053) can help you navigate the ACCESSNebraska application process and identify all the programs the child may qualify for.

The School and Medical Consent guide for Nebraska covers the full sequence — benefits applications, consent paperwork, school enrollment, and the timeline for getting everything in place when a child arrives with no warning.

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