Kinship Care in Quebec: Fostering a Child You Already Know

The call comes out of nowhere. Your niece's children have been removed by the DPJ. Your neighbour's granddaughter needs a place to stay. A child in your school community is entering care and the DPJ worker is asking if anyone in the child's network can step in.

This is the reality that brings many people into Quebec's foster care system not through a deliberate application process, but through a sudden request rooted in an existing relationship. In Quebec, this type of arrangement is called placement chez une personne significative — placement with a significant person — and the caregiver is formalized as a famille d'accueil de proximité (proximity foster family).

What Is Kinship Care in Quebec?

Kinship care is any foster placement where the child is placed with someone they already have a meaningful relationship with — a grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling, godparent, close family friend, or other person who has played a significant role in the child's life. The Quebec Youth Protection Act (LPJ) explicitly prioritizes this type of placement.

The LPJ establishes a hierarchy of placement preferences. When a child must leave their home, the DPJ is required to first assess whether the child can be placed within their family circle or with someone significant to them before moving to placement with an unrelated recognized foster family. This preference reflects both the law's commitment to the "continuity of relationships" and evidence that children placed with familiar caregivers experience less disruption to their identity, language, culture, and community ties.

Under Quebec law, kinship caregivers are not in a legally separate category from other foster families — they are formally recognized as familles d'accueil through the same recognition framework. The path to recognition differs in some respects, but the legal status, compensation, and obligations are the same.

Who Qualifies as a Significant Person?

The DPJ does not restrict kinship placements to blood relatives. A "significant person" is defined in practice as someone who already has a meaningful, established relationship with the child — someone the child knows and trusts. This can include:

• Grandparents, aunts, uncles, and adult siblings
• Godparents or family friends who have been consistently present in the child's life
• Former neighbours or community members with longstanding relationships to the child
• In some cases, parents of the child's close friends

The key question the DPJ asks is whether placing the child with this person genuinely serves the child's interests — not merely whether the person is related. A biological relative with a troubled history, a substance use problem, or a close relationship with the child's abusive parent may not be the right placement, regardless of the family connection. The DPJ evaluates the individual, not the title.

The Kinship Recognition Process

The recognition process for kinship caregivers follows the same general framework as regular foster care, but with some modifications for the urgency that often surrounds these situations.

Emergency kinship placements. When a child is removed in an emergency and a kinship caregiver is identified immediately, the DPJ may authorize a temporary placement with the caregiver before full recognition is complete. This temporary status is not recognition — it is an emergency measure that allows time for the formal process to proceed. The caregiver must still complete the full evaluation, and recognition is not guaranteed just because the emergency placement has been authorized.

VAE background check. All adults in the kinship household must still undergo the VAE (vérification de l'absence d'empêchement) — the background clearance procedure that checks for criminal records and court orders that would compromise child safety. This applies even for grandparents or other relatives.

Psychosocial evaluation. The evaluating social worker conducts their assessment with some adjustments for the kinship context. The evaluation explores the nature of the existing relationship between the caregiver and child, the caregiver's relationship with the biological parents (since kinship placement often creates complicated loyalties), and the caregiver's capacity to maintain the professional boundaries required of a recognized DPJ resource.

The last point is one of the hardest aspects of kinship care. If your sister's children are placed with you, you are simultaneously their aunt (or grandmother, or godparent) and their DPJ-recognized foster parent. The DPJ will expect you to facilitate contact between the children and your sister according to the Plan d'intervention, even when you personally believe that contact is harmful or when your family members pressure you to take sides. Navigating this dual role is a central theme in kinship care evaluation meetings.

Physical standards. The home must meet the same regulatory requirements as any foster placement: a private bedroom of at least 80 square feet per child, functioning safety equipment, and compliance with the fire and construction codes.

The Famille d'Accueil de Proximité Program (PFAP)

The Quebec Ministry of Health and Social Services has developed specific orientation guidelines for postulants à titre de famille d'accueil de proximité (PFAP) — people applying specifically as kinship foster families. These guidelines recognize that kinship caregivers often enter the process reactively rather than proactively, and that their evaluation needs to account for the pre-existing dynamics between the caregiver, the child, and the biological family.

The PFAP orientation is available from regional CISSS/CIUSSS institutions and outlines what kinship applicants can expect at each stage of the process.

What Kinship Caregivers Receive

Recognized kinship foster families receive the same financial support as any other recognized foster family:

• Age-based daily compensation rates (from $26.47 for ages 0–4 to $41.22 for ages 16–17 as of January 2026)
• The daily forfaitaire and personal expense allowance
• Annual clothing and school supplies allowances
• The annual ressourcement (respite) allowance of up to $783.04

Children placed with kinship caregivers are also covered by RAMQ for medical and dental care.

Kinship caregivers do not receive additional compensation simply because of the family relationship — the financial terms are standardized by the collective agreement between the MSSS and foster family associations.

When Kinship Care Leads to Permanency

Quebec's LPJ creates several long-term options when a child cannot return to their biological family. For kinship caregivers who have built a deep and stable relationship with the child over months or years of placement, these pathways include:

Tutorship (tutelle). A court can appoint the caregiver as tuteur — tutor — giving them full parental authority over the child without necessarily severing the bond of filiation with the biological parents. Tutorship is often the right permanency option when the biological parent is not able to care for the child but both parties want to preserve the legal family connection.

Adoption. If the child is declared eligible for adoption by the court and the caregiver wishes to adopt, kinship caregivers may apply. In adoption through the DPJ, proximity caregivers already known to the child are often preferred, though this is not automatic.

If You've Been Asked to Become a Kinship Caregiver

If you've received a call from a DPJ worker asking whether you can take a child you already know, the most important immediate steps are:

1. Confirm whether the DPJ is proposing an emergency placement or a formal kinship recognition process — these have different timelines and implications
2. Ask about the temporary compensation structure if the emergency placement proceeds before recognition is finalized
3. Contact FFARIQ (1-866-529-5868) for guidance on the kinship recognition process and your rights as a prospective proximity foster family

If you would like a complete guide to the Quebec foster care system — including the formal kinship evaluation, what the DPJ expects of kinship caregivers, and how to navigate the biological family relationships — the Quebec Foster Care Guide covers the full process in English.

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