Kinship Care vs Traditional Foster Care in Saskatchewan
If a grandchild or nephew has been placed with you through the Ministry, or if you've stepped in to care for a relative's child in a crisis, you may find yourself in kinship care — a placement type that operates differently from traditional foster care in several important ways. Understanding the distinction matters because it affects your legal rights, your financial support, and what the Ministry expects of you.
What Kinship Care Is
Kinship care in Saskatchewan means a child is placed with someone who has a pre-existing relationship with them — typically a relative (grandparent, aunt, uncle, older sibling) or a close family friend with a significant connection to the child. The provincial Child and Family Services Act supports considering extended-family or significant-connection placements when appropriate if a child cannot remain with their birth parents.
This preference is reinforced federally. Bill C-92, the federal legislation affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2024, supports considering extended-family or significant-connection placements for Indigenous children when appropriate.
Kinship vs. Traditional Foster Care: The Key Differences
How the placement starts
Traditional foster care: You apply proactively, complete PRIDE training, go through a home study, and receive a foster home licence. The Ministry places children with you from their general caseload based on your "range of acceptance."
Kinship care: Often starts reactively. A child you know is in crisis — parents arrested, hospitalized, or subject to a Ministry intervention — and you've indicated you want to care for them, or the Ministry has approached you. In an urgent situation, ask the Ministry or agency what temporary approval and screening steps apply while the formal process proceeds.
The licensing process
Both kinship and traditional foster caregivers are assessed by the Ministry or a First Nations delegated agency. This includes background checks, a home safety inspection, and a family assessment for kinship placements. The difference is urgency and the temporary arrangements that may apply while the formal process proceeds.
PRIDE pre-service training may be required for kinship caregivers. In an urgent placement, ask the Ministry or agency what training applies and how it will be scheduled.
Financial support
Both kinship and traditional foster caregivers receive financial support. The basic maintenance rates are the same structure:
- Ages 0–5: approximately $573/month (southern rate)
- Ages 6–11: approximately $603/month
- Ages 12–15: approximately $680/month
- Ages 16+: approximately $767/month
Northern rates are higher. Ask the Ministry or agency which supplementary allowances for clothing, recreation, and travel reimbursement apply to your arrangement.
Ask the Ministry or agency whether PRIDE Levels of Pay apply to your kinship arrangement. The published supplemental service fees range from roughly $500 to $2,900/month per child on top of basic maintenance, with Level 6 negotiated based on service.
Legal authority over the child
In both kinship and traditional foster care, the Ministry or First Nations agency retains legal guardianship of the child. The caregiver provides the physical care, but the agency holds the legal authority to make major decisions about education, medical treatment, and placement changes.
This is the critical distinction from a Person of Sufficient Interest (PSI) order, where a court grants legal custody directly to the individual caregiver. PSI caregivers have more autonomy — they can make more decisions without checking with a caseworker — but that's a separate legal pathway that may be considered when long-term placement is appropriate.
Relationship with the birth family
Traditional foster parents may or may not have any prior connection to the child's birth family. Kinship caregivers are, by definition, often the birth parents' own relatives. This creates both strengths and complications.
On the positive side: the child maintains family connections, there's often pre-existing trust, and the cultural continuity (especially important for Indigenous children) is easier to maintain.
On the complicated side: navigating boundaries with birth parents who are your own sibling, child, or cousin requires a different kind of emotional management. Family contact follows the approved Care Plan and any court order, and kinship caregivers can find themselves caught between loyalty to the birth parent and their protective obligations to the child.
Why Saskatchewan Heavily Favours Kinship
In the late-2024 comparison, 73% of Saskatchewan children in out-of-home care were in family-based settings, while 16% were in traditional foster homes. This reflects the importance of family and community connections in placement planning, particularly for Indigenous children where cultural continuity carries additional weight.
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If You're a Kinship Caregiver Who Didn't Plan to Be
The hardest kinship situations are the ones that weren't chosen. A grandparent who gets a call from the Ministry. An aunt who takes in three children over a weekend. These caregivers are often doing everything right without knowing the system at all.
If that's your situation, the immediate steps are:
- Ask your caseworker what temporary approval and financial-support arrangements apply while the placement is assessed
- Understand that a formal home study and background checks will follow — start gathering documents
- Ask for your caseworker's direct contact and the after-hours emergency line
- Get clarity on the child's care plan and what the Ministry's plan is (reunification, long-term kinship, PSI, other)
- Contact the SFFA (1-800-667-7002) — they support kinship caregivers, not just traditional foster parents
The Saskatchewan Foster Care Guide covers both kinship and traditional foster care pathways, including the PSI order process that often follows a kinship placement — useful if you're in the system already and trying to understand where it's headed.
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