The short answer is yes. If you make a decision to bring in a family member, neighbor, one of your child’s friends, or your own friend’s children into your home, you are considered a kinship placement and have a less strenuous list of requirements that you must adhere to. Typically, this includes a background check, basic home study to ensure your home is safe, and willingness to abide by a safety plan that the case manager puts in place on behalf of the Department of Child Safety.  As an unlicensed kinship family, your kids do qualify for medical coverage and community support but do not get the same monthly stipend to help care for the additional costs of having child(ren) in your care.

 

We do recommend that kinship homes look into the possibility of becoming licensed to take off some of the financial strain of adding children into your family. Many agencies will help expedite training so that kinship families can get licensed in a shorter amount time. Your first step would still be to attend an orientation and select what agency you would like to connect with. If this is you, here is a list of orientations coming up: https://fosterarizona.org/foster-adopt/

 

Thank you for your great question! If you have questions, send them to #youaskedfa or Kim@fosteraz.com