Colorado’s new law provides financial assistance to kinship foster families

It took less than 24 hours for Jennifer Gardinier’s family to grow from three to eight, with the youngest new member still in diapers and the oldest almost finished high school.

Obtaining state foster care certification that would allow the Weld County family to receive financial assistance would take significantly longer.

The children arrived at her home in Dacono in August 2023, and while responders were helpful in obtaining clothing, car seats and other items they immediately needed, the first check came to partially cover the costs of feeding a much larger family to compensate only when November.

Gardinier and her husband Stacy, who have an 8-year-old daughter, agreed to serve as “kinship caregivers” for their former neighbors’ five children after Larimer County officials determined the children were not safe with their parents. Over a year later they are still caring for them.

Nearly half of children removed from their homes in Colorado are now staying with other relatives, neighbors or friends of their family as their cases work through the system, and state officials hope a new law that makes it easier to get financial aid will enable others to act. .

Obviously, families shouldn’t take in children for financial reasons, but easing the path to getting help could mean more children have the opportunity to stay with people they know and trust, Gardinier said. In her family’s case, they saved to make ends meet because they knew the children well and wanted to help them cope with the trauma they had experienced, she said.

“It was tough, but we got it done,” Gardinier said.

Earlier this year, the Colorado Legislature passed a bill that would allow families who have a kinship relationship with a foster child but have not undergone the full foster family certification process to receive 30% of the rate the state typically pays to foster families. Families who complete the certification process to care for a relative or other child they already have ties with will be eligible for the full rate the state pays to households willing to care for children they don’t know.

During the first six months of the year, an average of 2,949 children were in some form of foster care on any given day in Colorado. More than half were with traditional foster families they did not know before placement, 24% stayed with kinship families who had not completed certification, and 22% with certified kinship families.

Since the law went into effect in September, uncertified kinship families have been able to receive per diem benefits of less than $20 per day for each child. The full rate paid to certified foster families ranges from approximately $42 to $65 per day for each child, with larger amounts allowed for teens than for younger children.

The new law’s budget note estimates it would increase the state’s costs by about $13.5 million, including payments to families and administrative costs. In 2023, the state spent about $68.7 million in payments to foster families, with about $9.9 million going to kinship families who completed the certification process.

By July 2026, non-certified kinship families will be eligible for up to half the rate, said Jeannie Berzinskas, kinship care program manager at the Colorado Department of Human Services.

“That will have a significant impact on your ability to care for that child,” she said.

The new law also requires the department to find ways to make it easier for related families to complete the certification process without jeopardizing the safety of children, Berzinskas said. While they don’t know what all these changes might entail, ideas include reducing the minimum square footage a family must have available per person and requiring fewer hours of training, she said.

Adults living in kinship homes must complete background checks and have their homes inspected for safety hazards, regardless of whether they are certified. About three-quarters of kinship families for children in the system have not gone through the certification process, Berzinskas said.