West Virginia DoHS and the Kinship Hub for Relative Caregivers

If you've been searching for "DHHR kinship care" and hitting outdated pages, here's why: West Virginia reorganized its state agencies effective January 1, 2024. The former Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) was split into three separate departments. The one that handles kinship care, child welfare, and public benefits is now the Department of Human Services (DoHS).

Old forms and court documents that reference "DHHR" are still valid — but when you're looking for current services, look for DoHS.

What DoHS Does for Kinship Families

The DoHS Bureau for Social Services (BSS) manages child welfare, foster care, and kinship support programs. The Bureau for Family Assistance (BFA) handles WV WORKS (TANF), SNAP, Medicaid enrollment, the school clothing allowance, and LIEAP utility assistance.

For kinship caregivers, the key services are:

WV WORKS Kinship Relative Payments: Monthly cash assistance for relatives raising a child. A non-parent caretaker-relative can choose whether to include their own income in the calculation or apply as a child-only case. Rates start at $417 per month for one child and increase with additional children.

SNAP and Medicaid: Food assistance and health coverage for children in your household. Apply through the same WV PATH portal (wvpath.wv.gov) or at your county BFA office.

School Clothing Allowance: In 2026, the program offered $200 per eligible child. Applications opened July 20 and were scheduled through August 15 or until funds were allocated, whichever came first; DoHS reports that the period actually closed at 11:59 p.m. on July 27 after funds were exhausted.

The WV Kinship Hub

DoHS operates an online Kinship Hub at kinshiphub.bss.wv.gov designed specifically for kinship and foster families. The portal helps you:

• Identify what your family needs
• Find local services and resources in your county
• Understand the difference between informal kinship care and formal foster placement
• Connect with the Bureau for Social Services if CPS is involved in your case

The Kinship Hub is particularly important if a child was placed with you through a CPS safety plan. Current CPS policy distinguishes in-home plans from out-of-home plans: a plan that separates the child from the home and parents requires court oversight. If a court places the child in DoHS custody, §49-2-701 excludes the caregiver health-care affidavit; the court order and DoHS consent instructions govern who may act. The Hub can help identify resources but does not itself grant consent authority.

Informal vs. Formal Kinship Care

This is a distinction that matters for your benefits and your authority:

Informal kinship care is when family members arrange for a child to live with a relative without CPS involvement or a court order. You handle your own paperwork (affidavits, POAs) and can apply for WV WORKS kinship payments, SNAP, and Medicaid through the DoHS Bureau for Family Assistance.

Formal kinship care happens when DoHS places a child with a relative in foster care, generally under state custody. Decision-making authority depends on the custody order and placement status. Under current DoHS policy, the Department generally consents to routine medical care when it has custody, while foster parents and group-care providers arrange care through Form FSC-0033. For special education, the child's parent, legal guardian, or surrogate approves the IEP, and child-welfare workers coordinate with parents, foster parents, or agency caseworkers. The relative can become a certified kinship foster parent, qualifying for foster care maintenance payments and casework support.

If you're informally caring for a child and want to know whether formal placement would give you more resources, talk with your county BSS office or Legal Aid of West Virginia (1-866-255-4370) about the implications of each path.

Finding Your County Office

Use DoHS's Find Field Offices page to locate a county office. For BFA benefits applications, you can also apply online through WV PATH without visiting an office.

The West Virginia school and medical consent guide connects the benefits, consent, and enrollment pieces into one workflow — including what to bring to your county DoHS appointment and how to coordinate benefits with your school enrollment paperwork.

See more West Virginia guides →