How Much Do Foster Parents Get Paid in New Brunswick?

The foster care payment structure in New Brunswick is more complicated than a single daily rate, and most online sources either give you a number that doesn't reflect actual Maritime rates or skip the details that actually matter for your household budget.

The short answer: New Brunswick foster parents receive a daily maintenance rate that varies by the child's age and needs, plus potential enhancements for special needs, and supplemental allowances for medical, dental, recreation, and other costs. Payments are not taxable income — they are reimbursements.

Here's how the structure actually works.

Basic Maintenance Rates

The standard per diem in New Brunswick is the base rate for day-to-day care — food, housing contribution, clothing, and basic personal items. Rates are age-tiered: younger children receive a lower base rate than teenagers, reflecting the reality that older youth generally have higher costs for food, activities, and clothing.

National guides and even some provincial comparisons frequently quote per diem rates from Ontario, Alberta, or British Columbia — provinces where rates can run $60 to $90 per day or higher. New Brunswick, along with other Maritime provinces, operates in a different range. Realistic basic maintenance rates in New Brunswick have historically fallen in the $22 to $32 per day range depending on the child's age. These figures align with what foster families in the province report, though DSD updates rates periodically.

The basic rate is the starting point, not the ceiling. Most children in care in New Brunswick are assessed for a Special Needs classification, which can substantially increase the daily rate.

Special Needs Assessment (SNA)

Within 30 days of placement, your assigned social worker and you jointly complete a Special Needs Assessment Form. This is a structured evaluation of the child's needs across 12 domains:

1. Eating and nutrition
2. Personal care and hygiene
3. Socialization skills
4. Communication and language
5. Health and medical needs
6. Behaviour management
7. Developmental milestones
8. Sexuality and healthy boundaries
9. Life skills and independence
10. School and educational support
11. Emotional and psychiatric status
12. Family involvement and visitation requirements

Each domain is scored, and the aggregate score determines whether the child receives an enhanced rate above the basic maintenance level. Enhancements related to health, communication, and emotional needs typically require supporting medical documentation — a physician's note or psychological assessment that substantiates the need.

The SNA is revisited whenever the child's circumstances change significantly, or at regular plan reviews. If a child's needs increase over time — for example, a mental health diagnosis that requires additional support — the assessment can be updated to reflect that.

Professional Care Home Rates

At the top of the payment structure is the Professional Care Home model. This is a specialized category for children with the most complex medical or behavioural needs — those who require a level of care that goes significantly beyond what standard fostering involves.

Professional Care Home caregivers receive a monthly stipend rather than a daily per diem. Reported figures for this stream in New Brunswick have been in the range of $2,800 to $3,500 per month, positioning it closer to specialized professional services than volunteer support. The minimum age for Professional Care Home applicants is 21, and the training and experience expectations are correspondingly higher.

Supplemental Allowances

Beyond the daily rate, DSD provides several supplemental allowances:

Medical coverage — All children in care are covered by NB Medicare (the provincial health plan) from the date of placement. This means standard physician visits and hospital care are covered without additional cost to the foster parent.

Dental and vision — Supplemental dental coverage through the Healthy Smiles program and vision coverage through the Clear Vision program are managed through DSD. These cover what NB Medicare does not.

Recreation and activities — Annual allowances are provided for sports, arts, and camp fees. The intent is to ensure children in care can participate in the same social and recreational activities as their peers, reducing the isolation that can accompany placement.

Clothing allowance at placement — When a child arrives for an emergency placement, an initial clothing allowance is available to cover immediate needs. Children in emergency situations often arrive with few belongings.

Relief care — A small daily rate for babysitting or respite care when you need to arrange temporary care for the child is typically included in rate schedules.

What Payments Are Not

Foster care payments are not income in the legal or tax sense. Under federal law, these are reimbursements for the costs of caring for a child who has been placed in your home by the province. They are not reported as employment income on your tax return, and you are not an employee of DSD.

This distinction is important for financial planning. The per diem covers the costs associated with having the child in your home — it does not generate savings or build retirement income. DSD assesses financial self-sufficiency during the application process precisely because foster care payments are not designed to be a household's primary income source.

The Financial Reality for Maritime Families

For families in regions with lower average household incomes — the Acadian Peninsula's average post-tax family income has been reported around $31,300 — the per diem is not incidental. It meaningfully affects the household's ability to sustain a placement.

This is one reason DSD's transparency around financial support matters: families who approach the process with accurate rate expectations are far less likely to experience "placement breakdown" driven by financial strain. If you're fostering a child with significant medical or behavioural needs and the SNA process results in an enhanced rate, the total financial support can look quite different from the base per diem alone.

If you're trying to understand what fostering would actually cost (and cover) for your specific household, the New Brunswick Foster Care Guide breaks down the full financial framework — including how the Special Needs Assessment process works in practice and what supplemental coverage DSD provides — so you can make a realistic assessment before you're in the middle of the application.

Foster-to-Adopt and EI Benefits

If you are fostering with the intent to adopt, there are additional financial considerations. Foster parents who proceed to adopt a child in their care are eligible for EI Parental Benefits. The standard parental leave provides approximately 55% of weekly insurable earnings for up to 35 weeks. The extended option provides approximately 33% of weekly earnings for up to 61 weeks.

This benefit applies when the adoption is finalized, not at the time of placement. The transition from foster care to adoption under the Child and Youth Well-Being Act is designed to be smoother than under the old Family Services Act, which reduces some of the uncertainty around timing for families pursuing this pathway.

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