NJ DCF Support for Kinship Families — Every Service the Department of Children and Families Offers

DCF's Role in Kinship Care

New Jersey's Department of Children and Families sits alongside the Department of Human Services as one of two executive departments that provide support for kinship families. Understanding which department handles what saves trips to the wrong office.

DCF manages three things relevant to kinship families: formal child protection cases through CP&P (the Division of Child Protection and Permanency), the Kinship Navigator Program for informal caregivers, and regulatory standards for kinship legal guardianship under N.J.A.C. 3A:20.

The Department of Human Services, by contrast, handles the monthly cash benefits (WorkFirst NJ TANF), food assistance (NJ SNAP), health coverage (NJ FamilyCare), and child care subsidies (CCAP). If you're applying for money or food, DHS and your County Social Services Agency are the starting point. If you need case management, emergency grants, or you're navigating a CP&P placement, DCF is where to look.

The Kinship Navigator Program

DCF's most direct support for informal caregivers is the Kinship Navigator Program, administered through four contracted regional community service agencies. Call 211 to get connected.

A Navigator case manager conducts an intake assessment, identifies which benefits you're eligible for across all state departments, and helps coordinate applications. They also administer one-time emergency wraparound grants — funding for children's furniture, winter clothing, moving expenses, security deposits, and utility payments. These grants have per-item caps (up to $700 for a refrigerator, $500 for a washing machine) and are last-resort funds.

The Navigator is especially valuable for caregivers who don't know what's available. A grandparent who calls about help buying a bed may learn they also qualify for child-only TANF, SNAP, and FamilyCare — programs they never knew existed because those sit in a different department.

CP&P Services (Formal Cases Only)

When CP&P is involved — meaning the child was removed from a parent due to abuse or neglect and placed with you formally — DCF provides a different level of support:

• Foster care board rate payments through KinGAP (for caregivers who obtain Kinship Legal Guardianship through the court after at least 6 months of licensed kinship foster care)
• Caseworker coordination — ask which services and referrals are available for the child in your placement
• Licensing support to help relatives become kinship resource family homes

CP&P caseworker oversight and KinGAP payments apply to formal CP&P cases. If no CP&P case exists, the Navigator program is an entry point for informal caregiver support.

The Kin-First Policy

P.L. 2021 c. 154 established a mandatory kin-first placement priority in New Jersey. When CP&P removes a child, the agency must consider relatives and family friends before placing the child with strangers. The law also removed the old requirement that reunification efforts fail before a relative can obtain Kinship Legal Guardianship, and it repealed the provision allowing termination of parental rights based on a child bonding with a non-relative foster parent.

This legislation reshaped how CP&P handles kinship cases, but it didn't change the benefits available to informal caregivers. If you took the child in voluntarily without CP&P involvement, the kin-first policy doesn't directly apply to your situation — your benefits come through DHS programs and the Navigator.

How to Start

If you're raising a relative's child and aren't sure where to begin, dial 211. The Kinship Navigator intake will sort out which department and which programs fit your situation. You don't need to figure out the bureaucratic structure yourself.

The New Jersey Kinship Financial Help Guide maps every DCF and DHS program available to kinship families, with a cross-agency benefit comparison and step-by-step instructions for each application.

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