Utah Benefits for Aunts, Uncles, and Siblings Raising a Child

It's Not Just Grandparents Who Qualify

Most of the information about kinship care in Utah focuses on grandparents raising grandchildren. But aunts, uncles, adult older siblings, nieces, nephews, and first cousins are all "specified relatives" under Utah DWS policy — and they qualify for the same financial programs.

If you've taken in your sister's kids, your brother's child, or a young cousin whose parents can't care for them, you have access to cash assistance, health coverage, food benefits, and more. Here's what applies to you.

The Specified Relative Grant

Utah's DWS Specified Relative Grant is available to any relative on the qualifying list: grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings (if you're an adult), nieces, nephews, and first cousins. The key requirement is a blood, marriage, or adoption connection to the child.

The grant works the same regardless of your relationship:

• Your income is completely excluded. DWS evaluates only the child's income and assets.
• Payment is $383/month for one child, $531 for two, $662 for three.
• No work requirement. No time limit.
• Apply at jobs.utah.gov/mycase as a "non-needy caretaker relative."

The main documentation difference for non-grandparent relatives is proving the relationship. Grandparents can usually show a chain of birth certificates (yours → the parent's → the child's). For aunts, uncles, or cousins, you'll need to show the connecting links — your own birth certificate plus the parent's birth certificate establishing the shared family member.

What's Different for Younger Caregivers

If you're an aunt or uncle in your 30s or 40s — or an older sibling barely into adulthood — a few things work differently than they do for a retired grandparent:

SNAP is more favorable. SNAP counts household income, and grandparents on Social Security sometimes exceed the limit. But a working-age relative with modest wages may actually fall within SNAP eligibility. A two-person household (you plus the child) can earn up to $2,345/month gross and qualify. A three-person household gets $2,960.

Child care assistance is more accessible. DWS Child Care Assistance requires the caregiver to be working, in training, or in school. Retired grandparents often don't qualify because they're not in a qualifying activity. If you're holding down a job while raising your niece or nephew, you're exactly who the child care subsidy is designed for.

The EITC may apply. If you have earned income and claim a qualifying child, the Earned Income Tax Credit can be worth up to $4,328 for one child or $7,152 for two (2025 tax-year amounts). This is a significant benefit that younger, working-age caregivers are more likely to access than retired grandparents.

Health coverage through your employer. Some employer plans allow you to add a child you have legal custody or guardianship of. A power of attorney may not be enough — check with your HR department. If your employer plan doesn't cover the child, Child Medicaid is the fallback.

Proving Parental Absence

DWS needs to know that the parents are absent from the home. For aunts, uncles, and siblings, this sometimes requires more explanation than it does for grandparents, simply because the caseworker may ask more questions about why a lateral relative — rather than the other parent or a grandparent — has the child.

Be prepared to explain the situation plainly. You don't need to prove parental abandonment legally — you need to attest under penalty of perjury that the child lives in your home and the parents are absent. Reasons can include incarceration, substance abuse treatment, hospitalization, military deployment, or the parent simply leaving.

If pursuing child support against the absent parents would create a safety risk (domestic violence, threats), you can claim Good Cause with DWS to waive the Office of Recovery Services cooperation requirement.

Who Doesn't Qualify

Family friends, godparents, and other non-relatives cannot access the Specified Relative Grant — the relationship must be by blood, marriage, or adoption. If you're caring for a child you're not related to, your path to financial assistance runs through formal guardianship (filed in Utah District Court) or through DCFS if the child was placed with you through child welfare.

Getting Organized

The same programs available to grandparents apply to you: Specified Relative Grant, Child Medicaid, SNAP, WIC (for children under five), HEAT (utility assistance), and emergency assistance through DWS. Start with the cash grant and Medicaid — those two cover the most ground and neither counts your income.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of every program and the documents you'll need, the Utah Kinship Financial Help guide covers the full landscape for all qualifying relatives, not just grandparents.

See more Utah guides →