NSW Kinship Carer Guide vs Free Government Websites: Which Do You Actually Need?

If you're weighing whether to use free government websites or a paid kinship carer guide in NSW, here's the short answer: the free information from Services Australia and DCJ is accurate and worth reading, but it sits across six or more separate websites with no single view of what an informal carer can claim from both systems. A guide that puts Centrelink and DCJ side by side saves you from missing payments or applying to the wrong office first. If a Centrelink social worker or Legal Aid solicitor is already coordinating your claims, you probably don't need one.

What the Free Resources Give You

The free government resources covering kinship care in NSW are substantial:

• Services Australia explains Family Tax Benefit Parts A and B, the 35% actual care threshold, the Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) Grandparent stream, and the Double Orphan Pension
• NSW DCJ publishes care allowance rate tables ($714–$1,081 per fortnight by age bracket), establishment payment amounts (up to $1,400), and eligibility criteria for Statutory and Supported Care Allowances
• Legal Aid NSW and LawAccess NSW (1300 888 529) explain parenting orders, guardianship, and Children's Court care orders
• My Forever Family NSW (1300 782 975) offers peer support, training, and referrals
• Raising Children Network covers general child development and some kinship-specific advice

Each of these is current, government-published, and free.

What the Free Resources Don't Do

The gap is not accuracy — it's assembly. Every one of those resources describes its own system in isolation:

• Services Australia pages explain Centrelink payments but never mention DCJ allowances
• DCJ pages explain state care allowances but never show how they interact with Family Tax Benefit
• Neither system tells an informal carer (no court order, no caseworker) what they can actually claim and from which agency
• Medicare, school enrolment, and NDIS access are on three more separate portals

An informal grandparent carer in NSW potentially qualifies for payments from two federal programmes and one state programme simultaneously, but there is no government page that lists all three together or explains the order of applications.

Who This Is For

• Grandparents or relatives who just took on a child and need to find every payment across Centrelink and DCJ without spending weeks on six separate websites
• Informal carers without a court order who read the DCJ website and concluded they're not eligible for anything — and need to know what they can claim through Centrelink instead
• Carers in regional or remote NSW who can't visit a Service Centre easily and need a printable reference covering both systems
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families who want to understand entitlements without engaging DCJ casework
• Adult children or family friends researching on behalf of an older grandparent who doesn't use government websites

Who This Is NOT For

• Carers who already have a Centrelink social worker or Legal Aid solicitor coordinating their claims across both agencies
• People who are comfortable reading multiple government websites and assembling the information themselves
• Anyone seeking legal advice about custody disputes or whether to apply for a court order — the guide doesn't cover that
• Foster carers already placed through an approved agency with a caseworker managing their DCJ allowances

The Real Tradeoff

The free resources are the foundation — the guide links to all of them and never replaces them. The question is whether you have the time and confidence to navigate six government websites, work out which payments apply to your specific care arrangement, and call the 1800 245 965 Adviser Line prepared with the right documents.

If you're an informal grandparent carer on the Age Pension who took on a grandchild suddenly, the cost of missing even one fortnightly payment while you work out which agency to call first is far higher than the guide's price. Family Tax Benefit Part A alone can be over $200 per fortnight for a child under 13.

If a professional is already helping you navigate, the free resources are enough.

The Support for Grandparents and Kinship Carers in NSW guide puts every payment, every agency, and every form into one reference organised by your care arrangement — so you find what the child is entitled to without assembling it from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the guide contain information that isn't available for free?

The underlying information — payment rates, eligibility rules, form names — is publicly available across Services Australia and DCJ websites. What the guide adds is the cross-system organisation: showing which payments each care arrangement unlocks from each agency, in what order to apply, and what documents each one needs. That assembly doesn't exist in any single free resource.

Will the free government websites give me wrong information?

No. Services Australia and DCJ pages are accurate and regularly updated. The problem isn't accuracy — it's that each agency describes only its own system, so an informal carer reading DCJ pages alone will miss Centrelink entitlements, and vice versa.

What if I buy the guide and it doesn't help?

Email [email protected] for a full refund, no time limit. The free checklist is also available immediately with no purchase required.

Can I just call the 1800 245 965 Grandparent Adviser Line instead?

You can, and you should — the Adviser Line is an excellent free resource. The guide includes a phone preparation worksheet specifically for that call, covering what to have in front of you and what to ask, because calling unprepared often results in a callback rather than an approved claim.

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