Foster Care Eligibility Toolkit
Included links go to external sites.
There is a variety of supplemental social service programs available to assist children and families in need outside of AFDC-FC benefits. While it is not the sole duty of the eligibility staff to educate families on these programs, nor make referrals to these programs, it is beneficial for eligibility staff to have knowledge of these other programs so they can suggest them to the social worker, probation officer and/or families. For additional information and resources about the programs listed below, county staff can access the CDSS website.
Adoption Assistance Program (AAP) provides payments on behalf of a child, to adoptive parent(s), funded with Title IV-E. Like foster care, it is an entitlement program that provides financial and medical coverage to facilitate the adoption of children who would otherwise remain in foster care. The intent of AAP is to provide a child with a secure and stable permanent home through adoption. The AAP benefit assist the adoptive parent with their child’s care and supervision needs.
Kinship Guardianship Assistance Payment (Kin-GAP) provides payments to guardians funded with Title IV-E. The program is a permanency option for children in long-term placement with relatives. Kin-GAP is intended to enhance family preservation and stability by providing relatives with an alternative route to permanency when the child cannot be reunified with their parent or adoption is not an appropriate permanency option.
Approved Relative Caregiver (ARC) provides payments to relative caregivers who do not qualify for AFDCFC. To be eligible for ARC the relative caregiver must be approved and live in California, must meet health and safety standards similar to approved foster homes and care for children who are ineligible for federal foster care benefits e.g., federal AFDC-FC.
Emergency Assistance – Foster Care (EA-FC) funded with TANF Block Grant and provides equivalent basic foster care rate to a caregiver. Eligibility requirements for this Program differ from those of foster care, EA-FC provides an initial temporary funding option for county welfare departments.
CalWORKS provides cash aid and services to families in need. Emergency Caregiver Funding (EFC) provides payments to Caregivers undergoing RFA. This funding is to help mitigate the financial burden on families caring for children placed with them on an emergency basis or
a compelling reason basis and have a pending RFA application. Counties provide the emergency caregiver a rate that is equal to the basic level rate, paid to homes that have been approved.
Title IV-B funds child welfare services e.g., counseling, therapy, or respite care.
Title XIX provides Medi-Cal in California – health, mental health, substance abuse treatment.
Supplement Security Income (SSI) is a federal SSA program that provides benefits for children meeting disability, income, and asset criteria. Foster care children may quality for SSI.
CalFRESH (formerly Food Stamps) provides low-income households with benefits to purchase food.
Former Foster Youth Medi-Cal: The Federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) extends Medi-Cal (aid code 4M) coverage up to age 26 for Former Foster Youth (FFY) after being discontinued from foster care due to aging out of foster care at 18 years of age. Requirements for eligibility include: be a youth who was in foster care on their 18th birthday, regardless of what state they lived in or what state had jurisdiction. If youth age 18-26 is applying for Medi-Cal who were in foster care in another county or state, the eligibility staff will screen for the former foster youth program. Youth who reunified with their family or had an adoption finalization before their 18th birthday do not qualify for this program.