West Virginia Kinship Guardianship Assistance (Title IV-E GAP)

What Title IV-E GAP Provides

The Title IV-E Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) pays monthly subsidies to relatives who take legal guardianship of a child who was previously in state custody. It is administered by the Bureau for Social Services (BSS), not the Bureau for Family Assistance that handles WV WORKS.

GAP payments are negotiated on a per-child basis, capped at the foster care maintenance payment rate. Current BSS policy sets these rates at:

• Under age 6: $790/month
• Ages 6-12: $851/month
• Ages 13-21: $942/month

These rates are substantially higher than the WV WORKS child-only grant ($417/month for one child), but GAP has strict eligibility requirements that most informal kinship families will not meet.

Who Qualifies

GAP is not available to every relative raising a child. The eligibility pipeline requires all of the following:

1. The child was removed from the parental home by a court or voluntary placement agreement and placed in DoHS/BSS legal custody
2. The child was eligible for Title IV-E foster care maintenance payments while living in the prospective relative guardian's certified or approved home
3. The child lived with the prospective guardian for at least six consecutive months in that approved home
4. A Kinship Guardianship Assistance Agreement was negotiated and signed between BSS and the relative guardian before the guardianship is finalized in circuit court

That last requirement is critical. If you finalize guardianship before the agreement is in place, you lose access to GAP. The agreement must come first.

The $2,000 Legal Expense Subsidy

Eligible relative guardians can receive a one-time payment per legal guardianship episode of up to $2,000 per child for nonrecurring expenses associated with the transfer of legal guardianship. Covered expenses include legal fees, transportation, home study fees, and other related costs.

This $2,000 cap is set by federal statute, not state policy.

Duration and Extensions

Standard GAP payments continue until the child turns 18. Extensions to age 21 are available if the young person is:

• Completing secondary education
• Enrolled in post-secondary or vocational education
• Participating in an employment-promotion or barrier-removal program
• Employed at least 80 hours per month
• Unable to do any of the above due to a medical condition

If You Don't Qualify for GAP

Most kinship caregivers — especially those caring for a child through an informal arrangement without prior child welfare involvement — will not meet GAP's requirements. The child must have been in BSS custody and the caregiver must have been approved as a kinship foster home first.

For informal kinship families, the primary financial support is the WV WORKS child-only cash grant ($417/month for one child), combined with SNAP, Medicaid, and childcare subsidies.

The West Virginia Kinship Financial Help Guide covers both pathways — the formal BSS/GAP route and the informal BFA benefits route — and explains how a child's care arrangement determines which programs are available.

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