What is Kinship Care?
When a child in Texas goes to a foster home, the foster family and child gradually learn about one another. But if a child goes to live with a relative or family friend, it is “kinship care.” To become a kinship caregiver, you should have the guidance of a Denton kinship care attorney.
Extended families often play significant roles when parents have a difficult time. Family members and others who already know the child may provide a stable home to a child who cannot live with his or her birth parents.
In 2024, almost 28 percent of the Texas children removed from their homes after alleged abuse (nearly 6,000 children) were in kinship care arrangements. Estimates suggest that more than 250,000 Texas children live with relatives in voluntary and informal kinship care arrangements.
What is the Best Option for a Child?
When a child has been neglected or abused, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services may remove the child from the home to ensure the child’s safety. The courts must then consider temporarily placing the child with a relative.
Family members are the preferred option for a child in Child Protective Services (CPS) care. Under Texas law and CPS policy, children removed from their homes should live with family members if it is safe and appropriate and if no other party has a legal right to the child’s custody.
How Does a Child Enter Kinship Care?
When matters involving a child come before a Texas court, the court’s highest priority is the child’s best interests. The court may schedule a family group decision-making conference where participants suggest a specific family member or friend who may provide a home for the child.
CPS then conducts an assessment to ensure the home is safe and appropriate. In most cases, the process also allows for a consideration of the parents’ wishes. If placement with a family member or friend is inappropriate or unavailable, the child may go to a foster home instead.
Kinship care provides children with stability by enabling them to live with someone they know and trust. It provides parents with the assurance that children will retain connections to their birth families.
How Can You Become a Kinship Caregiver?
When CPS removes a child from a home after an alleged abuse incident, the agency must ask the parents if any family members or close friends can temporarily care for the child. Only if kinship care is inappropriate or unavailable will CPS place the child in a foster home.
If you want to be considered as a kinship caregiver, talk to the parents, their attorney, the CPS caseworker, or the child’s court-appointed attorney (the “attorney ad litem”). If you are rejected as a kinship caregiver, retain the advice and services of your own Denton family law attorney.
What if You Are Rejected as a Kinship Caregiver?
You may not be allowed to act as a caregiver if you or someone else in your household has been subject to a “Reason to Believe” (RTB) finding in a CPS case. If you or someone else in the home is currently under CPS investigation, the child cannot live in your home.
You may not appeal a denial based on involvement in a current CPS investigation. However, in other cases, a Denton kinship care attorney can help. If you were rejected because of an RTB finding in the past, you and your attorney may request a “Placement Review of Findings.”
A Placement Review of Findings asks CPS to review the RTB finding to determine if it should be changed. If CPS changes the RTB finding and there are no other issues, the caseworker will conduct risk and home assessments.
For What Other Reasons Can You Be Rejected as a Kinship Caregiver?
Additionally, if you or someone in your household has a criminal record, you may not be allowed to become a kinship caregiver. In this instance, you should receive a denial letter and Form 6583, which you and your Denton family law attorney may use to file your appeal.
In most cases, you may only file an appeal if your criminal record involves a low-risk, low-level offense. For other crimes, there is usually no appeal process. However, it may be possible for a judge to approve you if the judge determines it is in the child’s best interests.
In these cases, the judge may convene a hearing to consider evidence about the criminal record and why it may or may not affect the child’s safety. To become a kinship caregiver if you have a criminal record, ask your kinship care lawyer to file a motion to request the hearing.
What Else Should Prospective Kinship Caregivers Know?
Your attorney can help you access services such as financial support to assist you as a kinship caregiver. The amount of benefits a caregiver may receive depends on whether your home is licensed for foster care.
The long-term benefit for unlicensed kinship caregivers is $500 per year per child. These payments are available for three years or until the child’s 18th birthday, whichever comes first.
Licensed foster parents who’ve cared for a child for at least six months after licensing may receive a Permanency Care Assistance benefit of about $400 per month per child, along with health care assistance.
We Help Families and Kinship Caregivers
If you seek to become a kinship caregiver in the Denton or Greenville area, an experienced, effective, and fiercely reliable legal advocate can make the difference. At Texas Grizzly Law Firm, we provide representation “the Grizzly Way.”
Texas family law attorney Brandon Reese handles kinship care cases and offers comprehensive family law services. If you are adopting or divorcing, or if you’re involved in a child custody, child support, or paternity dispute, bring your case immediately to Texas Grizzly Law Firm.
We offer free first legal consultations to those who need representation in family law cases. Learn more, or launch the legal process now by calling Texas Grizzly Law Firm in Denton at 940-488-2570 or in Greenville at 903-447-8926. We’ll make sure your story gets told.
