Wyoming Department of Family Services Kinship Care

Formal vs. Informal Kinship Care

The Wyoming Department of Family Services (DFS) distinguishes between two kinds of kinship care, and the difference determines almost everything about what help you can access.

Formal kinship care means DFS placed the child in your home through a child protection investigation or juvenile court proceeding. A caseworker is assigned. The court order or DFS placement agreement specifies who holds medical and educational consent authority. You coordinate major decisions — school changes, medical procedures, insurance enrollment — with the caseworker or through court approval.

Informal kinship care means a family arrangement brought the child to you without DFS or court involvement. A parent asked you to take the child, or the child showed up because the parent couldn't cope. There is no caseworker or court order from that arrangement alone. A caregiver does not automatically gain school or medical decision authority from an informal placement, though a child who qualifies under McKinney-Vento has separate federal enrollment rights.

Most grandparents and relatives raising a child in Wyoming are informal kinship caregivers. DFS is not involved in their daily lives, and the agency's kinship-specific programs are limited to formal placements.

What DFS Provides for Formal Placements

When DFS places a child with a relative, the agency can offer:

• Guardianship subsidies for children exiting the formal foster care system into permanent relative guardianship
• Caseworker coordination for school enrollment, medical consent, and benefit applications
• Clear legal authority through the court order specifying the caregiver's decision-making rights
• Medicaid enrollment for the child, processed through the DFS case

The caseworker handles the paperwork friction that informal caregivers face alone. Schools and clinics accept DFS placement documentation without question.

What DFS Does Not Provide for Informal Caregivers

If you took in a child without a DFS case, the department does not assign you a caseworker, provide consent forms, or issue any document granting you authority over the child's schooling or healthcare. Informal caregivers don't have a DFS contact to call when a school registrar demands guardianship papers.

What DFS does offer to any qualifying household, regardless of placement type:

• POWER Caretaker Relative program: Cash assistance for relatives who are primary caregivers for children whose parents are not in the home. DFS directs applicants to download and complete an application and contact their local office for an appointment.
• Medicaid and Kid Care CHIP: Health coverage applications for children in your household, based on income eligibility. Getting the child insured does not grant you medical consent authority — those are separate issues.
• SNAP benefits: Food assistance based on household size and income.

The Consent Gap for Informal Caregivers

This is the part that catches most families off guard. You can apply for Medicaid through DFS and get the child a health insurance card. But when you take that card to a pediatrician's office, the clinic may still refuse to let you consent to treatment because you have no legal authority — no court order, no formal DFS placement, and possibly no signed parental consent letter.

Insurance coverage and consent authority are legally separate. Getting one doesn't automatically give you the other.

Informal caregivers bridge this gap through either a notarized parental consent letter (if the parent is available and willing to sign) or a temporary guardianship under W.S. §§ 3-2-301 through 3-2-303 (if the parent isn't available or if institutions refuse the informal paperwork).

When DFS Gets Involved Involuntarily

Reports of suspected abuse or neglect should go to the county DFS field office. DFS may assess or investigate and decide to place the child with a relative through a formal process. At that point, the informal arrangement becomes a formal DFS kinship placement with all the legal clarity that entails.

Some caregivers consider contacting DFS because they need help, but Child Protection Services directs reports of abuse or neglect to the county field office; contacting DFS does not itself formalize a private family arrangement. DFS defines an accepted report as one that meets statutory definitions, falls within the agency's scope, and is assigned for assessment or investigation. Legal Aid of Wyoming (1-877-432-9955) can help you think through whether this path makes sense for your situation.

Navigating Both Sides

The School and Medical Consent for Grandparents and Relatives in Wyoming guide covers the consent and enrollment process for both formal and informal kinship arrangements — the documents DFS provides when they're involved, and the steps to take when they're not.

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