Kinship Care NSW: What Relative Carers Need to Know

When a child can't safely live with their parents, the first question the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) is required to ask is: is there a relative or person known to this child who can care for them? That preference — placing children with people they already know — sits at the heart of NSW child protection law.

Kinship care is not the same as fostering a stranger's child. It brings its own legal structure, its own emotional weight, and its own financial entitlements. If you're a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling, or family friend who has been approached to care for a child in your family, this is what you need to understand.

What Is Kinship Care in NSW?

Kinship care (also called relative care) refers to arrangements where a child is placed with a person who has a pre-existing relationship with them. Under NSW legislation, kinship placements are given priority over unrelated foster care placements. The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 places family preservation and family-based care above institutional or unrelated foster placements in the hierarchy of options.

There are two broad types of kinship care in NSW:

Informal kinship care — A private family arrangement where relatives are caring for a child without any formal DCJ involvement or authorisation. These carers receive no government allowance and have limited legal standing. If the situation becomes unsafe or contested, informal carers have few formal protections.

Formal kinship care — The child is in the custody of the Minister (i.e., formally in out-of-home care) and placed with an authorised kinship carer. These carers are assessed, authorised, and supported through DCJ or an accredited NGO. They receive the full fortnightly care allowance.

Most of the following applies to formal kinship care arrangements.

The Kinship Assessment: How It Differs from Standard Foster Care

When a child enters out-of-home care and a relative is identified as a potential carer, DCJ must assess that person's suitability. The kinship assessment uses a different, often more expedited, pathway compared to the standard foster carer assessment — particularly when there is urgency around an emergency placement.

The kinship assessment still requires:

• A Working With Children Check (WWCC) — free for volunteer carers through Service NSW
• A National Criminal Record Check
• A DCJ Records Check
• A home safety inspection
• An initial assessment of suitability

However, the depth and timeline of the home study may be compressed when a child needs to be placed quickly with family. Kinship carers may be provisionally approved for an immediate placement while the full assessment is completed. This is the "expedited" pathway.

One important note: being family does not mean the process is a formality. DCJ still conducts a genuine suitability assessment. Certain offences or past child protection concerns will still bar authorisation. The goal is to keep children connected to family — but not at the expense of safety.

Training Requirements for Kinship Carers

Like unrelated foster carers, kinship carers in NSW are required to complete mandatory pre-service training. The current curriculum is "Shared Stories, Shared Lives" (updated July 2024). A related package called "Stepping Stones" is often used specifically for kinship carers — it is designed with the recognition that many kinship carers did not choose the role in the way prospective foster carers do, and the content is calibrated accordingly.

The training covers trauma, attachment, managing contact with the child's birth parents, and the legal framework of the PSP. Many kinship carers find the trauma content particularly useful in understanding behaviours they were already managing without a framework.

Financial Entitlements for NSW Kinship Carers

Authorised kinship carers in NSW are entitled to exactly the same fortnightly care allowance as unrelated foster carers. This is a legislative protection — the allowance cannot be reduced because the carer is a family member.

From 1 January 2026, the standard rates are:

Care +1 and Care +2 loadings apply in the same way as for foster carers — if a child has complex needs, the carer's agency should arrange a Child Assessment Tool (CAT) evaluation to assess whether a loading is appropriate.

Kinship carers may also be eligible for:

• Family Tax Benefit (FTB) from Centrelink, as the child's primary carer
• Carer Allowance (if the child has a disability or significant health condition)
• The Teenage Education Payment for 16–17 year olds in school or training

A frequent issue is kinship carers not knowing what they're entitled to — particularly in emergency or expedited placement situations where no one has walked them through the financial support available. If you've had a child placed with you without a full financial briefing, ask your caseworker explicitly about every payment category listed above.

The Emotional Complexity of Family Placements

Kinship care is not like foster care from an emotional distance. You know the adults who are not caring for the child. You may have your own complicated feelings about what has happened. The child knows you. You may have your own family dynamics, loyalties, and history to navigate alongside the formal DCJ process.

A few common situations that kinship carers describe:

Contact with birth parents. You may be required to facilitate regular contact between the child and their parents — who are your own family members. The legal obligation to support contact does not disappear because the relationship is complicated. Agencies can provide Family Time Workers to facilitate visits, but the day-to-day emotional management often falls to the carer.

Other family members. Grandparents who take on a grandchild may face criticism or pressure from their own adult children. Having a clear understanding of your legal role as an authorised carer — and knowing that DCJ, not family consensus, governs the child's care plan — is important.

The child's identity. A child placed with grandparents or aunts and uncles typically has a smoother transition in some ways, but may also be more aware of what has happened and why. Their existing relationship with you is an asset — it also means they already know how to push your buttons.

Guardianship as a Path Forward

Many kinship carers in NSW do not want to be in an indefinite foster care arrangement. The Permanency Support Program recognises this. If restoration to the birth parents is not possible, a Guardianship Order can transfer full legal parental responsibility to the kinship carer until the child turns 18.

Under a guardianship order:

• The child is no longer technically "in care" and no longer has a caseworker
• The carer has all parental responsibility for day-to-day decisions
• The fortnightly guardianship allowance continues at the standard care rate
• The child retains their connection to identity and may still have contact with birth parents under agreed terms

This is a meaningful outcome for many kinship families — it normalises the child's life while maintaining the financial support. The New South Wales Foster Care Guide covers the guardianship pathway in detail, including what the court process involves and how carers transition from foster authorisation to guardianship.

What to Do If You've Been Asked to Take a Family Child

If DCJ has contacted you or a family situation has arisen where a child in your family needs care, the most important first step is to contact a foster care agency or DCJ directly to understand your options. Do not enter a purely informal arrangement if you want legal standing and financial support.

Your caseworker should walk you through the expedited assessment pathway and make it as fast as possible. If things are moving slowly, ask specifically about provisional approval so the child can be placed with you while the full assessment is completed.

Kinship care is one of the most demanding and most meaningful roles in the NSW child protection system. You are not just a carer — you are the person keeping a child connected to their family and their sense of who they are.

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