There is no federal requirement for kin caregivers to be in the country legally in order to get licensed. These caregivers should be eligible for licensing and financial support. Create a pathway to approve undocumented family members to increase your pool of kin caregivers and ensure they can get financial support. You can offer full foster care maintenance payments from agency funds in lieu of federal reimbursement.

How to do this

First, build trust with caregivers. If they think you'll report them to authorities for their immigration status, they won't work with you. Make it clear that your focus is only on making sure the youth have a safe and supported placement.

Conduct name-based background checks instead of fingerprint-based checks when a potential caregiver doesn’t have an appropriate form of ID to get registered for fingerprinting.

Don't record immigration status in your case management system.

Remove state licensing requirements for residency or citizenship. Again: this isn't required under federal law, so any state requirements are getting in your own way.

Look for other household members to license. As a workaround, you can license a household member who does have documented immigration status.

This strategy in action

New Mexico licenses undocumented kin by conducting name-based background checks in place of fingerprints for kin with immigration status concerns.

Resources