North Carolina Begins Maintenance Payments For Kinship Caregivers

On December 1, 2023, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) began making foster care maintenance payments of $405 per month to kinship caregivers. Previously, most county departments of social services (DSS) lacked the resources to pay kinship caregivers. The payments are intended to provide financial support and promote placement with appropriate kinship care providers for children in foster care, rather than with a non-relative foster family.

The state defines a kinship caregiver as a person related by blood, marriage, or adoption to a child and who is providing foster care. Currently about 25% of the . . .