Kinship Care in Kansas: What Relatives Need to Know About Licensing and Support

A grandparent gets a call at 10 PM. A child has been removed. DCF asks if she can take them in. She says yes, because she loves them and there is no question. What she does not know yet is that how she answers the next set of questions from the contractor will determine whether she receives $10 a day for the child's care — or over $600 a month, plus KanCare medical coverage, childcare assistance, and clothing stipends.

That gap is real, it is consequential, and it is the most important thing to understand about kinship care in Kansas.

Informal Kinship Care vs. Licensed Kinship Foster Care

When DCF removes a child and a relative or close family friend (what Kansas calls a Non-Related Kin, or NRKIN) takes them in, there are two paths.

Informal kinship care means the child is placed with you while you are not licensed as a foster parent. You receive a basic daily rate — currently around $10 per day — as an unlicensed relative caregiver. You are not required to complete training or meet foster home licensing standards. The child may or may not be covered by KanCare depending on the nature of the placement arrangement. You have no formal standing in CINC court proceedings. This path is simpler to start, but it leaves you financially exposed and legally peripheral to decisions being made about the child in your home.

Licensed kinship foster care means you go through an expedited version of the standard foster care licensing process. You complete training, pass background checks, meet home safety standards, and receive a formal license. In exchange, you receive the full foster care reimbursement rate — starting at approximately $20 per day for a Basic 1 placement — plus access to KanCare for the child, Foster Care Child Care (FCCC) assistance if you work, annual clothing stipends ranging from $320 to $700 depending on the child's age, and the same foster parent rights under the Gail Finney Memorial Foster Care Bill of Rights that any licensed foster parent holds.

For a grandparent raising a relative child full-time, the monthly difference between informal and licensed care can exceed $500. Over the course of a placement that averages 11 months in Kansas, that adds up to more than $5,000 — before counting medical coverage and childcare assistance.

The KinPact Program

Kansas has a dedicated program for kinship caregivers called KinPact, administered in partnership with the Children's Alliance of Kansas. KinPact is designed to help relative and close-family-friend caregivers understand their options and connect with support resources — whether or not they choose to pursue formal licensure.

The Kinship Navigator system, also operated by the Children's Alliance, provides legal navigation assistance through Kids2Kin Legal Services, a program of Kansas Legal Services. If you are a grandparent or other relative who has had a child placed with you unexpectedly and you do not know what your rights or options are, the Kinship Navigator is the right first call before you contact a contractor.

The Children's Alliance of Kansas can be reached through their website at childally.org, or through your regional contractor.

The Expedited Kinship Licensing Path

Kansas updated its kinship licensing laws in mid-2024 to create an expedited path specifically for relatives and NRKIN caregivers. This abridged process has the same end result — a formal foster care license — but the training requirements and processing timeline are streamlined compared to the standard licensing path for non-relatives.

Under the abridged kinship path, some of the standard TIPS-MAPP training requirements may be modified or shortened. The exact modifications depend on the contractor sponsoring your license and the circumstances of the placement. Contact your regional contractor immediately after a child is placed to ask specifically about the "kinship licensing path" or "abridged relative licensing" — using that exact language will get you to the right person faster than a general inquiry about foster care.

You do not have to wait until you have thought everything through to start this process. You can pursue the license concurrently with the child being in your home under informal placement.

Who Processes Kinship Licenses

Like all foster care licensing in Kansas, kinship licenses are processed through the private contractors in each region — not through DCF directly. Your regional contractor is determined by the county where you live.

KVC Kansas has a dedicated kinship program and publishes kinship care resources on their website. TFI Family Services handles kinship placements in southeast and south central Kansas. Saint Francis Ministries covers western Kansas. Cornerstones of Care serves the Wyandotte County metro. EmberHope Connections manages the Wichita area since the July 2024 contract transition.

If a child was placed with you from a different county than where you live, clarify with DCF which contractor is managing the child's case and which contractor should be sponsoring your license — these may be different agencies, which is another area where the privatized system creates confusion for relative caregivers.

Background Checks and Home Requirements

The kinship licensing path does not eliminate background check requirements. Every adult in the household — including any adult children who live in the home — must pass a KBI name-based check, FBI fingerprint check, CANIS (Child Abuse and Neglect Information System) check, and sex offender registry check.

Home safety requirements are also not waived. You will need working smoke detectors on every level and in every bedroom, a CO detector near sleeping areas, all firearms stored in locked containers separate from ammunition, and medications (including over-the-counter items) in locked storage. If you have a pool or hot tub, it must be fenced with a minimum 4-foot fence and a self-latching gate.

The 70 square foot per single occupant and 45 square foot per child bedroom requirements apply to kinship homes. Many relative caregivers worry they will not pass this standard — but these measurements are smaller than most people expect. A standard 10x8 bedroom clears the single-occupant requirement comfortably.

What Financial Support Looks Like Long-Term

Once licensed, kinship foster parents in Kansas access the same financial support structure as non-relative foster parents.

KanCare (Kansas Medicaid) covers all medical, dental, vision, mental health, and prescription costs for the child in care. You do not pay out of pocket for the child's healthcare.

Foster Care Child Care (FCCC) assistance is available through DCF for working kinship foster parents. It covers childcare costs for the placed child up to age 13. If the child has a documented disability or medical complexity, an enhanced rate applies.

The daily reimbursement rate increases with the child's level of care. If the child placed with you has significant behavioral or medical needs, the contractor conducts a Level of Care assessment that determines a higher daily rate. Understanding how this assessment works — and what documentation you should provide — is worth researching before the assessment happens, because families consistently report that children are initially scored at lower levels of care than their actual needs warrant.

The Decision You Are Actually Making

If a child has been placed with you as a relative caregiver, you are already doing the hard part. The question of whether to formalize that care through licensing is a financial and legal one, not an emotional one. The difference in support between informal and licensed placement is substantial enough that in almost every case, pursuing the kinship license is worth the effort — especially now that Kansas has created an expedited path specifically for families in your situation.

The Kansas Foster Care Licensing Guide includes the full kinship licensing requirements, the key forms involved, and a clear explanation of how the abridged training path works for relative caregivers.

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