New York Kinship Care Financial Help — Programs by Care Arrangement

Your Care Arrangement Determines Your Benefits

New York offers multiple financial programs for relative caregivers, but which ones you can access depends on how the child came to live with you. There are three main categories, and the financial landscape is different for each.

Informal Kinship Care (No Court Order)

This is the most common arrangement. A grandparent, aunt, uncle, or family friend takes in a child without any court involvement — often because a parent is in crisis (addiction, incarceration, hospitalization, or simply unable to cope).

What you can access:

• Child-only cash assistance: 2026–27 sample maximums range from $411.70 to $511.70 per month for one child, depending on county; caregiver income is not counted
• SNAP: Food benefits for the household
• Medicaid / Child Health Plus: Health coverage for the child, often with zero premiums
• CCAP childcare subsidy: If you work or are in approved training
• Empire State Child Credit: Up to $1,000 per child under 4 on your tax return
• HEAP: Heating assistance that can boost your SNAP allotment
• WIC: For children under 5
• School meals: Children receiving child-only TANF, SNAP, or Medicaid are directly certified for free school meals. Summer EBT (SUN Bucks): $120 annually for each eligible school-age child.

What you cannot access: Foster care maintenance payments and KinGAP. These require the child to be in the formal foster care system.

No court order is required. File Form LDSS-2921 at your county DSS office or NYC HRA.

Article 6 Custody or Guardianship

You petitioned Family Court or Surrogate's Court and obtained a formal order of custody or guardianship under Family Court Act Article 6 or SCPA §§ 1701–1709.

What changes:

Everything available to informal caregivers is still available, plus:

• Stronger legal standing for school enrollment and medical decisions
• Clearer documentation for CCAP, SNAP, and other programs

What you still cannot access: KinGAP and foster care payments. Article 6 custody alone — without prior foster care certification — does not establish KinGAP eligibility.

Certified Kinship Foster Care

The child was placed with you through the child welfare system (Article 10 proceedings), and you became a certified kinship foster parent through your local DSS or a voluntary authorized agency.

What you gain:

• Foster care boarding rate: The full maintenance payment, set by the child's age and clinical needs
• Categorical Medicaid: Automatic for the child
• KinGAP eligibility: After six consecutive months of certified foster care, you can pursue a KinGAP agreement — permanent subsidies at 75–100% of the foster rate, plus up to $2,000 in non-recurring guardianship expenses per child

KinGAP payments continue until the child turns 18 (or 21 if the agreement started after age 16 or the youth meets continuing-eligibility criteria).

The Gap That Catches People

Many kinship caregivers assume that because child welfare encouraged them to take the child, they are entitled to foster care payments. They are not — unless the placement went through formal foster care procedures and the home was certified. Informal placements, even those facilitated by a child protective caseworker, do not generate foster maintenance funds.

If a child welfare worker placed a child with you informally and the case was closed, your financial options are the child-only grant, SNAP, Medicaid, and the other entitlement programs. They are meaningful — a grandparent in NYC could receive over $1,000/month in combined cash and food benefits plus free health coverage — but they are not the foster care rate.

The complete New York kinship benefits guide maps every program across all three care arrangements, with the application steps, income rules, and documents for each one.

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