Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment Program

The Kin-GAP Program serves children exiting the foster care system that enter a guardianship with a relative or fictive relative, the children may have been receiving either AFDC-FC or CalWORKs benefits before entering the Kin-GAP Program.

Definitions

EAS 90-101

Assistance Unit (AU)

Each Kin-GAP child has their own separate AU, even if there is a sibling(s), another Kin-GAP child, or a needy caregiver living in the home.

Exception: The child of a Kin-GAP child is included in the Kin-GAP child’s AU and is eligible to receive an infant supplement.

County of Payment Responsibility

The county of payment responsibility is the county that had the dependency of the Kin-GAP child (placing county) at the time the legal guardianship was established.

Face-to-Face Interview

Guardians of Kin-GAP children are exempt from face-to-face interview requirements. They should always be given the option for a face-to-face interview if that is their preference.

Federal Kin-GAP or IV-E GAP

The federally funded Kin-GAP program.

Kin-GAP Eligible Child

Kin-GAP is available to foster care and JPD children exiting the juvenile court dependency system on or after January 1, 2000, and living with a relative or fictive relative legal guardian. The child must have been formally placed by the DFCS or JPD and lived with the approved caregiver for at least 6 consecutive months. The juvenile court dependency must be dismissed prior to the approval of Kin-GAP.

Legal Guardian

A LG is a person who is given the legal authority and responsibility to care for a child.

Maximum Aid Payment (MAP)

Rates for Kin-GAP cases where dependency was dismissed before May 1, 2011, are based on the Licensed FFH rates established before May 1, 2011. These payments are age-based.

Rates for Kin-GAP cases where dependency was dismissed on or after May 1, 2011 through December 31, 2016 are identical to the FFH rates established May 1, 2011. These payments are age-based.

Rates for Kin-GAP cases where dependency was dismissed on or after January 1, 2017 are based on the CCR Basic Level rate effective January 1, 2017. These rates are no longer based on age. Refer to Foster Care Charts.

Beginning Date of Aid (BDOA)

Foster care payments must stop the date dependency is dismissed. Kin-GAP payments may begin in the same month FC payments end and the first Kin-GAP payment will be prorated.

Note: When a Kin-GAP child has a birthday that puts him/her in a higher age bracket, an automatic increase is granted on the first of the following month except when the youth’s birthday falls on the first day of the month. When the birthday falls on the first day of the month, the payment is pro-rated for the entire month, thus the increase is for the entire month.

Recipients

Kin-GAP children are treated as recipients, as opposed to applicants, when transferring to the Kin-GAP program. Therefore, regarding the CalWORKs income and property limits, they will be entitled to the higher recipient limits.

Relative (Traditional)

EAS 90-101.1 (r) (1)

Relatedness must be within the 5th degree of kinship. Refer to Definition of Relative.

Relative (Traditional and Fictive) For Federal Kin-GAP

Established in 2012 under AB 1712 and must be established by juvenile court; Effective January 1, 2014, relatives for federal Kin-GAP are defined as:

An adult who is related to the child by blood, adoption, or affinity within the 5th degree (see above)
An adult who meets the definition of an approved, NREFM
An adult who is either a member of the Indian child’s tribe, or an Indian custodian
An adult who is the current foster parent of a child under the juvenile court’s jurisdiction who has established a significant and family-like relationship with the child, and the child and the county child welfare agency, probation department, Indian tribe, consortium of tribes, or tribal organization that has agreed with the state where that adult is identified as the child’s permanent connection.

Number (1) above is the “traditional” relative or kin; numbers (2), (3), and (4) are “fictive” relative or kin.

Important: The Intake EW must add the case flag “Fictive Relative” when processing the Kin-GAP
case and include a journal entry documenting that the caregiver is a fictive relative.

Relative Guardian

A relative guardian is a relative who exercises responsibility for the day to day care and control of a related child.

State or (Non-Federal) Kin-GAP

The non-federally funded Kin-GAP Program.

Note: For the Kin-GAP Program, the guardian must be a court or tribal appointed legal guardian of a Kin-GAP child.

Successor or Alternate Guardian

EAS 45-604.6

A successor or alternate guardian is identified as the replacement guardian in the event the current relative guardian passes away or is otherwise incapacitated and is no longer able to care for the child.