TANF Kinship Care & Relative Caregiver Benefits
What is TANF child-only assistance for a grandparent or other relative raising a child, and how do you apply?
Updated September 2026
Quick Answer
Yes — TANF has a "child-only" grant specifically for a grandparent or other relative raising a child, which counts only the child's income (not the caregiver's) and isn't subject to the regular work requirement or 60-month time limit. It typically pays modestly (around $328/month for one child, nationally), and a few states run separate, larger kinship subsidy programs on top of it — but only about 13% of eligible kinship families actually receive it, largely because it's poorly advertised.
What is a "child-only" TANF case?
One of TANF's four statutory purposes, spelled out in federal law (42 U.S.C. § 601), is to let children be cared for in their own home or in the home of a relative rather than entering foster care. A "child-only" case is how TANF delivers on that: only the child's own income and resources are counted, not the caregiver's, because the caregiver isn't requesting assistance for themselves. This makes it a realistic option for a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other relative raising a child who wouldn't otherwise qualify for TANF as a household.
Why do so many eligible families miss out on it?
Research from the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network estimates that only about 13 percent of children in kinship families actually receive TANF child-only, despite most being eligible. The benefit is often what one kinship-service provider called "the state's best-kept secret" — many state agency websites don't explain it by name, and caseworkers aren't always trained on how to process a child-only application. States also don't use one consistent name for it: Nevada and Washington call it a "non-needy" grant, Texas calls it a "specified relative" grant, so if you don't see the words "child-only" on your state's TANF page, ask about it by one of these alternate names.
Does a work requirement or the 60-month limit apply?
No — because a child-only case has no "work-eligible" adult in the assistance unit, the regular TANF work participation requirement and the 60-month federal time limit don't apply to it. The caregiver isn't the one receiving assistance, so there's nothing for the state to require of their work activity or count against a lifetime clock; only the child is on the grant.
Do you have to cooperate with child support enforcement?
Federal law does not require child support cooperation from someone who isn't the child's parent, though states have discretion over how they apply this to relative caregivers, and most still ask a caregiver to assign the child's right to child support to the state as a condition of the grant. A caregiver can generally request a "good cause" exemption from this requirement — for example, out of concern that pursuing the child's parent for support could endanger the caregiver or discourage a safe reunification — and a small number of states, including Massachusetts and Wyoming, exempt all relative caregivers from the child support cooperation requirement outright.
How much does it pay?
Child-only grants tend to be modest. National data compiled by Child Trends and the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network puts the average child-only payment at around $328 a month for the first child, with some states paying as little as $81 — well below the roughly $915 a month a relative would typically receive as a licensed foster parent for the same child. Because only the child's income and resources count toward eligibility, a caregiver who already has income of their own generally doesn't need to worry about it affecting the child's eligibility for the grant (a small number of states — Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon — are exceptions that do test caregiver income for a child-only grant).
Are there other kinship programs besides basic child-only TANF?
A few states use TANF funds to run a separate, more generous kinship program alongside basic child-only grants. Louisiana's Kinship Care Subsidy Program, running since 1999, pays $450 per child per month to a qualified relative caregiver with household income under 150 percent of the federal poverty level, without the time limits or work requirements that apply to a regular TANF family grant. Nevada's Kinship Care Program pays over $400 per child per month to a caregiver age 62 or older who has obtained legal guardianship, for households under 275 percent of the federal poverty level, and separately reimburses up to $750 in legal expenses incurred to obtain that guardianship. Texas also offers a one-time $1,000 TANF payment specifically for a grandparent or other relative caregiver — see this site's guide to emergency and one-time TANF assistance for how that program works.
How do you apply?
There's no separate national child-only application — you apply through your state's regular TANF application, but fill it out as a caregiver requesting assistance for the child only, not for yourself. Nevada's guidance, for example, tells applicants to write "child-only" clearly at the top of the application and mark "none" for every adult household member's own assistance request, specifically to avoid having the application mistakenly processed as a regular family case. Because a family grant application isn't built with child-only applicants in mind, it's worth calling your state or county TANF office directly before you apply and asking what to do differently as a relative caregiver — this site's state TANF application guides are a good place to find the right office and phone number.