Kinship Care in Newfoundland and Labrador: What Relatives and Close Others Need to Know

When a child in Newfoundland and Labrador is removed from their home, the first question CSSD asks is not "which foster family is available?" It is "who in this child's life can provide care?" Kinship care — placement with a relative, or a close family friend who has a significant pre-existing relationship with the child — is the preferred option under both provincial policy and federal law. It's also the least understood part of the foster care system for the families who suddenly find themselves navigating it.

If a child you know has entered care and you want to provide that placement, or if you're exploring kinship care as a deliberate choice, this post explains how it works in NL.

What Kinship Care Is

Kinship care in NL covers two types of caregivers:

Relative kinship: Grandparents, aunts and uncles, adult siblings, cousins, or any blood relative of the child.

Kith kinship: People who are not biological relatives but who have a meaningful, established relationship with the child — a family friend, a godparent, a neighbour the child has known for years. The term "kith" is less commonly used in everyday conversation, but it has formal standing in NL child welfare policy.

Both types can be approved as kinship caregivers. The assessment process differs from the standard foster home assessment in emphasis and timeline, though not in underlying requirements.

Why Kinship Care Is Prioritized

The Children and Youth Care and Protection Act (CYCPA) and the federal Bill C-92 both establish a priority hierarchy for placements: family first, then community connections, then foster care with unrelated families. This isn't purely a philosophical preference. Research consistently shows that children placed with relatives or close family connections experience:

• Greater placement stability (fewer moves)
• Better maintenance of sibling relationships
• Stronger ongoing connection to birth family
• Reduced psychological disruption from removal

For Indigenous children, this priority is even more pronounced. Bill C-92 requires that Indigenous children be placed with an Indigenous family — ideally from their own nation — before placement with a non-Indigenous family. Kinship placements within the community are the first and preferred option.

In NL as of 2024, there are approximately 715 children in kinship care alongside the roughly 900 in traditional foster placements. The kinship stream is substantial, and the province actively supports it.

How the Kinship Care Assessment Works

The kinship assessment follows the same legislative framework as the standard foster home approval — background checks, medical reports, references, physical home standards — but the approach and timeline are adapted for the urgent reality that kinship placements often arise from an emergency.

Emergency Kinship Placement

When a child is removed from their home, CSSD may place the child with a relative on an emergency basis before the formal assessment is complete. This allows the child to go to someone they know rather than waiting for a licensed foster home. The relative is then assessed while the child is already in the home.

This is a significant practical difference from standard fostering. You may find yourself providing care before you have completed PRIDE training or received your formal approval. During this period, you are a provisionally approved kinship caregiver, and CSSD maintains oversight of the placement while the formal process continues.

Background Checks

All adults in the kinship home must complete:

• A Vulnerable Sector Check (VSC) through the RNC or RCMP, depending on location. The foster care fee exemption applies to kinship applicants as well.
• A Child Protection Clearance Check (CPCC) through CSSD, requiring a full address history from birth.
• A medical report from a family physician.

The same checks that apply to standard foster applicants apply here. There are no shortcuts in the screening process, even for grandparents or close relatives.

PRIDE Training

Kinship caregivers are required to complete PRIDE pre-service training, the same 27-hour competency-based model required for all foster parents. For relatives who find themselves in an emergency placement, completing 27 hours of training can feel daunting alongside the immediate demands of caring for the child. Regional CSSD offices do work to schedule PRIDE sessions as quickly as possible for kinship caregivers in these situations — contact your regional office to discuss options.

The Home Assessment

The physical home standards are the same as for standard foster homes: dedicated sleeping space with egress windows, appropriate smoke and CO detectors, locked medication storage, fire extinguisher, and (where applicable) water testing. Social workers conducting kinship assessments understand that relative homes are not set up to be foster homes and give reasonable time for modifications.

Financial Support for Kinship Caregivers

Kinship caregivers in NL receive the same financial support as other licensed foster parents under the 2026 Integrated Rate schedule:

Budget 2026 allocated $8 million to increase these rates for the first time in 12 years, effective June 1, 2026. The increase applies to kinship caregivers as well as standard foster families — prior to this, inadequate financial support was documented as a significant barrier for relatives taking in family members' children.

Additional allowances — $300 initial clothing, $200 school supplies, $400 Christmas, up to $750 for graduation — apply to kinship placements. Children in kinship care receive full MCP and prescription drug coverage.

What Changes in the Relationship Between Kinship Caregiver and CSSD

When you are a kinship caregiver, CSSD maintains legal responsibility for the child unless and until a different permanency arrangement is made. This means you will work within the same care planning framework as any other foster parent: the child has a formal Plan for the Child, you participate in case conferences, and a social worker maintains oversight of the placement.

The difference is the pre-existing relationship. Social workers conducting kinship assessments take into account the established bond between the child and the caregiver. The assessment is still thorough — it has to be, given what's at stake — but it proceeds with the understanding that the relationship context is already there.

One area where kinship care requires particular care: navigating the relationship between your role as caregiver and the child's birth parents, who are often your own family members. The guidelines on birth family access, communication protocols, and care decisions that apply to all foster parents apply here too — even when the birth parent is your sibling or your own adult child. This boundary is one of the most consistently difficult aspects of kinship care and one that PRIDE training addresses directly.

Long-Term Kinship Options

Kinship care does not automatically lead to adoption, and adoption is not the goal for most kinship placements. The more common long-term outcome for kinship families is a formalization of the arrangement through guardianship or a Continuous Custody Order that names the kinship caregiver rather than CSSD as the responsible adult.

The CYCPA allows for children to be placed in the permanent custody of a person other than a provincial manager — a provision added through legislative amendments that specifically enables long-term kinship stability outside the traditional foster care model.

For families weighing whether to pursue long-term guardianship versus continued kinship foster care, CSSD can advise on the implications for financial support and your ongoing relationship with the child welfare system.

For the complete guide to the NL foster care and kinship care application process — including background check guidance, PRIDE prep, and the 2026 rate breakdown — visit /ca/newfoundland-and-labrador/foster-care/.

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