Foster Care Rates Saskatchewan: How Much Do Foster Parents Get Paid

Saskatchewan foster parents do not receive a salary. What they receive is a maintenance payment — a per diem designed to cover the cost of raising a child in their home. For most families, the question of money sits quietly behind everything else: can we afford to do this? The honest answer is that the system is designed so you shouldn't be out of pocket, but understanding what the payments are and aren't matters before you apply.

Basic Maintenance Rates

Saskatchewan uses separate rate schedules for southern and northern regions, recognising that the cost of living — especially food and heating — is meaningfully higher in communities like La Ronge, Buffalo Narrows, and Pelican Narrows.

These figures are periodically updated. In 2024, the Ministry announced a $600,000 investment to increase babysitting, respite, and school allowances on top of the base rates.

On a daily basis, the southern basic rate works out to roughly $19–$25 per child depending on age. That's what the province estimates it costs to feed, house, clothe, and transport a child for one day. These payments are not taxable income for the foster family.

PRIDE Levels of Pay

Saskatchewan has moved toward a professionalized "PRIDE Levels of Pay" system that rewards caregivers for completing advanced training and taking on more complex placements. The levels work as supplemental service fees on top of basic maintenance.

A Level 5 foster parent caring for a child with significant medical needs could receive approximately $3,473 per month ($573 basic maintenance plus $2,900 service fee) for a child under five in the south. For adolescents in the north, the combined figure is higher. These are real numbers that reflect the genuine complexity of specialized foster care — not income in the conventional sense, but meaningful compensation for what is effectively a professional caregiving role.

What the Payments Cover (and What They Don't)

The basic maintenance rate is intended to cover:

• Food and household meals — the child's share of grocery costs
• Clothing — day-to-day wear; initial and quarterly allowances are available separately
• Shelter — the child's share of your housing costs
• Ordinary transportation — school runs, routine appointments

The payments are explicitly not intended to cover your household's existing expenses — mortgage, car payments, your own groceries before a child arrives. The Ministry requires you to be financially self-sufficient independently of any foster care payments. Attempting to use foster care as a primary income source will disqualify your application.

Supplementary Allowances

Beyond the base rate, foster families can access additional funding for:

• Recreation: sports registrations, music lessons, summer camps
• Travel to medical appointments or family visits: reimbursed at approximately $0.56/km
• Respite care: funding to hire a babysitter or another foster parent for short breaks — expanded in 2024
• Dental, eye care, and prescriptions: covered through the Saskatchewan Health Authority for children in care
• Clothing allowances: separate from the base rate; initial placement and periodic refreshes

Kinship and PSI Rates

Kinship caregivers — grandparents, aunts, uncles, or close family friends who have had a child placed with them by the Ministry — receive financial support similar to traditional foster care per diems. Person of Sufficient Interest (PSI) caregivers, where the court places a child in the permanent care of an individual rather than making them a Crown ward, also receive ongoing financial support at comparable rates with somewhat more legal autonomy.

The Financial Reality Check

For rural Saskatchewan families considering fostering, the numbers make more sense than most people assume. The basic maintenance rate for a 12-year-old in the south (~$680/month) doesn't fully account for the time and energy involved, but combined with the PRIDE levels supplement and supplementary allowances, it covers the child's actual costs without financial strain on the family. Families who advance to Level 3 or Level 4 — typically those caring for children with trauma histories or behavioural complexity — receive payments that better reflect the professional nature of the role.

If you want a complete breakdown of how the payment structure works alongside the application requirements and what the home study process involves, the Saskatchewan Foster Care Guide consolidates all of this in one place, including the current per diem estimates and how to access supplementary funding.

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