Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) Program

Senate Bill 1901 (Chapter 1055, Statutes of 1998), Assembly Bill 1111 (Chapter 147, Statutes of 1999)

SB 1901 as amended by AB 1111 established the Kin-GAP program. Welfare and Institutions Code (W&IC) §11364 requires the Kin-GAP program and related provisions be implemented by January 1, 2000. This statute also permits CDSS to implement the provisions of Kin-GAP through ACL with emergency regulations to follow later.

ACL 99-92 addresses changes to the CalWORKs program as a result of SB 1901 and AB 1111. The Kin-GAP program is a child-only cash aid program for children with court dependencies who are placed with relatives who assume guardianship and choose to exit the foster care system. It is a separate from AFDC foster care and CalWORKs. As a result of this legislation, children who are dependents of the court and are currently receiving CalWORKs may be eligible to receive cash aid under the Kin-GAP program.

As a result of the establishment of the Kin-GAP program, the following changes are made to CalWORKs effective January 1, 2000:

• Children who receive Kin-GAP are ineligible to also receive CalWORKs. They are treated as excluded persons pursuant to MPP §82-832.1(e).
• The child of a minor who is a Kin-GAP recipient shall be aided under the Kin-GAP program and is excluded from the CalWORKs AU in the same manner as a child of a minor child receiving AFDC-FC as stated in MPP §82-832.1(a).
• The needy caretaker relative of a Kin-GAP recipient may be eligible for CalWORKs. If the caretaker is not in another AU and is not a caretaker relative for any other child, the caretaker may receive CalWORKs as an AU of one. The needy caretaker relative is treated in the same manner as caretaker relatives specified in MPP §82-820.22 (i.e. as a caretaker for an SSI/SSP child or a foster care child).
• Income and aid payments received by Kin-GAP recipients are not considered available to CalWORKs applicants and recipients.

ACL 99-97 explains that the Kin-GAP program serves children exiting the foster care program to enter a guardianship with a relative. To be eligible for Kin-GAP payments, the child must have lived with the relative for at least 12 months, the relative guardianship must be established pursuant to W&IC§ 366.26, and juvenile dependency must be dismissed pursuant to W&IC§ 366.3 any time after January 1, 2000.

The Kin-GAP child is subject to all CalWORKs requirements as they pertain to child-only cases except for the following:

• The county of payment responsibility will be the county which had the dependency of the Kin-GAP child (i.e. the placing county) at the time the guardianship was established.
• Each Kin-GAP child will have his or her own AU, even if there are siblings or a needy caretaker relative living in the same home.
• The caretaker relative will not need to submit a CW7 for the Kin-GAP child unless the child has income in a month.
• The Kin-GAP payment rates are the same as the basic foster care rates. Attachment A provides the basic foster care rates effective January 1, 2000.
• Kin-GAP children will be treated as recipients rather than applicants when transferring to Kin-GAP.
• Caretaker relatives for the Kin-GAP child are exempt from the face-to-face interview requirement for the Kin-GAP child.

A child receiving a Kin-GAP payment is not eligible to receive a specialized care increment nor as clothing allowance.

Children receiving Kin-GAP will be treated the same as children who receive foster care for food stamp purposes.

If a Kin-GAP child and either or both parents reside in the same home, eligibility for Kin-GAP ceases. Thus if a caretaker relative is receiving Kin-GAP payments for a child, and that child's parent returns to the home, the county would make an intraprogram status change to CalWORKs if the parent wanted to receive aid for the child.

However, if a nonparent caretaker relative is the guardian for a minor parent, the guardian may receive Kin-GAP for both the minor parent and the child of the minor parent as long as the parent of the minor parent does not return to the home.

A caretaker relative and a Kin-GAP child may not receive Kin-GAP payments if they move out of California because they would no longer meet the CalWORKs residency requirement.

A chart of basic Kin-GAP rates is attached to this ACL.