What Is Kinship Care in the ACT and Who Qualifies?

Kinship Care in Plain Language

Kinship care is when a child lives with a relative or close family friend instead of their parents. In the ACT, it covers grandparents, aunts, uncles, older siblings, stepparents and trusted family friends who take on the daily care of a child — whether that happened through a private family decision or through the child protection system.

The term covers a spectrum of arrangements, from a grandmother who took in a grandchild last Tuesday with nothing but a phone call, through to a formally assessed carer with a statutory placement order from the Children's Court.

The Two Main Pathways

Informal kinship care is common. The child moves in with a relative through a private arrangement — often suddenly, because of a parent's illness, addiction, incarceration or death. No court order exists. No government agency placed the child. A private arrangement does not itself transfer parental responsibility to you; if a parent has died or is unavailable, check who holds that responsibility.

There are no formal eligibility criteria for informal kinship care. If a child is in your home and you are providing daily care, you are an informal kinship carer. The eligibility tests apply to the payments and services you try to access, not to the care arrangement itself.

Statutory kinship care happens when the Community Services Directorate's Child and Youth Protection Services (CYPS) identifies a child protection concern and places the child with a relative under a care order. The Kinship Assessment and Support Team assesses potential carers — this involves background checks, home visits and an evaluation of your capacity to meet the child's needs.

Once approved, you receive the ACT Foster and Kinship Care Subsidy and case management support. Parental responsibility shifts to the CSD Director-General, with day-to-day care delegated to you.

Who Can Be a Kinship Carer?

For informal care, anyone the family trusts. There is no formal approval process and no government gatekeeper.

For statutory kinship care under CYPS, the assessment looks at:

• Your relationship to the child (biological relatives are preferred, but close family friends can be assessed)
• Your ability to provide safe, stable accommodation
• Background checks (Working with Vulnerable People registration in the ACT, national police check)
• Your willingness to support the child's relationship with their birth family where safe
• For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, cultural connection and compliance with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle

The Cultural Services Team within CYPS handles assessments involving First Nations children, ensuring cultural safety is central to the process.

Enduring Parental Responsibility

A third arrangement — Enduring Parental Responsibility (EPR) — sits between the two. Under section 223 of the Children and Young People Act 2008, the ACT Children's Court can grant an EPR order that transfers long-term parental responsibility to the carer until the child turns 18. CSD oversight reduces, but certain financial supports continue.

EPR is typically pursued after a child has been in statutory care for an extended period and reunification with the birth family is no longer the plan.

The Federal Parenting Order Option

For informal carers who want legal authority without entering the child protection system, a parenting order through the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia formalises your care role. It can allocate parental responsibility to you (solely or jointly), giving you authority over schooling, medical decisions and other aspects of the child's life.

A parenting order does not trigger the ACT territory subsidy, but it simplifies your interactions with schools, doctors and government agencies.

What to Do If You Have Just Taken on a Child

Start with the Grandparent, Foster and Kinship Carer Adviser Line (1800 245 965) — they help you identify which payments and services apply to your specific arrangement. For ACT-specific advocacy, contact the Carers ACT Kinship and Foster Carers Advocacy Service on (02) 6296 9965.

The ACT Kinship Carer Support guide walks you through the full picture — payments, paperwork, school enrolment, medical consent and support services — tailored to the ACT.

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