Financial Assistance Resources

One of the most fundamental differences between kinship/grandfamilies and parent-headed families is the lack of an automatic legal relationship between the caregiver and child. Without such a relationship, access to services and supports for the child and their kinship/grandfamily can be challenging, if not impossible.

This webinar explores the various legal relationship options and the array of public benefits and tax credits that are available to these families. Presented by the Director of the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center, Ana Beltran, JD, and Network subject matter expert, Heidi Redlich Epstein, MSW, JD, Director of Kinship Policy and State Projects, American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law.

Additional information about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), public benefit programs, and links to the relevant government agencies from AARP (2013). 

US Government Accountability Office (GAO) study (2011).

A fact sheet on tax benefits for grandparents and other relatives raising children, created by H & R Block (2017).

Chart of state definitions of "relative" for TANF purposes, including states that include fictive kin. Updated 11-18.