Virginia Relative Maintenance Support Payment — Kinship CPS Placement Help

What the Relative Maintenance Support Payment Is

The Relative Maintenance Support Payment (RMSP) is a monthly cash supplement of $200 per child paid to a kinship caregiver in Virginia when the child was diverted from foster care placement into the relative's home through active Child Protective Services (CPS) involvement.

It is paid on top of the TANF child-only grant — not instead of it. So a grandparent receiving both gets the TANF child-only amount plus an additional $200 per child each month. The RMSP is funded through TANF federal block grant and State Maintenance of Effort dollars.

The CPS Requirement

This is the bright line that determines eligibility: the child must have been placed with you as a result of active CPS involvement by your local department of social services. The LDSS diverted the child to your care as an alternative to placing the child in foster care with a non-relative family.

If you took the child in privately — through a family arrangement, a voluntary decision by the biological parent, or any circumstance that did not involve CPS — the RMSP is not available to you. This is the case for the majority of kinship caregivers in Virginia. The vast majority of the estimated 55,000-70,000 children in extended family care in Virginia are in informal arrangements without CPS involvement.

For informal caregivers, the TANF child-only grant (where your income is excluded) remains available, along with SNAP, FAMIS, WIC, and childcare subsidies. The RMSP supplements those benefits specifically for CPS-diverted placements.

How to Request It

The RMSP is not something you apply for through CommonHelp or through the standard benefits application process. It is requested through the CPS caseworker assigned to the child's case at your local DSS.

If the child was placed with you by CPS and you are not receiving the RMSP, contact your assigned child welfare caseworker and ask specifically about the Relative Maintenance Support Payment under TANF Guidance Manual § 304.5. If you do not have a current caseworker assignment, contact your local DSS child welfare division directly.

Key Rules

Payment amount: A flat $200 per child per month.

Interstate exclusion: Children placed into Virginia by another state's child welfare agency through the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) are not eligible for RMSP.

Overpayment protection: Under TANF Manual Chapter 500 (§ 503.7), RMSP overpayments for benefit months from July 2022 onward are exempt from administrative recoupment. If the agency made a calculation error, you will not be required to repay the excess.

Age limit: The RMSP continues while the child remains eligible for TANF — under age 18, or age 18 and enrolled full-time in secondary school or equivalent vocational training.

RMSP vs. KinGAP vs. State-Funded Kinship Subsidy

All three programs serve kinship caregivers with CPS/foster care involvement, but they operate at different stages:

• RMSP: Active during the CPS diversion — the child is placed with you instead of entering foster care. No court custody transfer required.
• KinGAP (§ 63.2-1305): After the child has been in formal foster care for 6+ months with you as an approved foster parent, and the court transfers custody to you. Pays the negotiated foster care rate plus enhanced maintenance.
• State-Funded Kinship Subsidy (§ 63.2-1306): After 90+ days in foster care, with a lower approval bar but basic maintenance rate only.

A child might start with RMSP during the CPS diversion and later transition to KinGAP or the state-funded subsidy if the case moves through foster care to a permanent custody transfer.

For the complete map of every financial program — from emergency help through ongoing monthly payments to tax credits — the Virginia kinship financial help guide organizes each benefit by the type of caregiving arrangement and shows exactly what applies to your situation.

See more Virginia guides →