Guardianship, kinship placement, or regular foster care?

Guardianship- she would have to sign them over to you, unless you want to prove in court why she isn't fit to have custody and why you should have guardianship.Foster Care- it takes quite a lot to become a foster parent and you are looking at taking about 30+ hours of classes which are typically offered only two times a year. And then she would have to voluntarily place the children in foster care.Kinship Placement- Again she would have to voluntarily place them into foster care and then you would have to pass the requirements to become a kinship caregiver. IMO- if she is willing to give your guardianship that may be a good way to go. However, if she wants them back at any point she can take you to court to do so. You can file for child support from her. In NY there is a child only grant, which give you up to $400/month if you have guardianship. Hopefully the two of you can come to an arrangement that is best for the children.

In our area, the classes are offered starting every month, and that's just at one agency. There are multiple agencies in the city offering them on different schedules. It is a 10 week course, 3 hours each week, but there are several people in our class with kinship placements. My understanding is that if you go this route, you get financial assistance from the state or county (in our area, this is apparently about $600/month per child), and the children also get health care coverage and possibly other benefits (early intervention, counseling, etc., if needed).From everything I've heard, it would seem worthwhile to pursue the kinship/foster license, both for yourself and for the children.PS: I notice your profile says Arizona, which is where we are as well. If your friend is in AZ, I would try calling some of the agencies, not just CPS directly. You would have to go through an agency anyway for the classes, and they are probably more likely to give you a timely call back than CPS.

I am also from AZ. I agree with PP that you should try calling some agencies, like Arizona's Children's Assoc., Catholic Charities, or HRT (Sorry, don't know what it stands for). They will give you more information. On the DES website, there are also links, such as finding out what stipends are for different levels. The stipend for kinship care is different than the stipend for foster care. To do kinship care, you do NOT have to take th 30 hours of PS-MAPP classes, but you also get less money to help with the kids. However, it will free the kids up for certain state benefits that maybe you don't qualify for, etc. Check it out: [url]www.azdes.gov[/url] Good luck!

To do foster care, you would have to get CPS involved. They would have to make a case to have the child removed. It opens a huge can of worms, believe me. I have done kinship care. It took two years for the children to be adopted. I think permanant legal guardianship is something to look into. I know a couple that did this in our area. They were able to get medical coverage for the child which is very helpful. They are able to get WIC (California program to help low income women with formula and food). They are able to get daycare assistance. I think it would be a good idea to contact social services in your state to see what programs would be available. Edited to add: I advise permanant legal guardianship, not temporary. Temporary guardianship gives no protection to the children. The guardianship can be taken away at the whim of the parents. They have to go to court & show good cause to overturn permanant legal guardianship.

Unless the mom is first hand abusing or neglecting her children, keep CPS out. If she does abuse, abandon or neglect them, and you don't report it, you could get in trouble. If you get the system involved, they'll tell YOU how often mom can see her children. You'd lose your daughter's trust forever, but you'd know the kiddos are permanently safe. It gets into a crazy battle unless your daughter voluntariy reliquishes the custody of the children to you. If she will, then I'd say ALWAYS go for adoption, because you deserve the funding.

There is no funding for family who adopt other family members and even if it became a CPS case, the payments for kinship is less than $1 a day. Reporting your daughter to CPS would be fruitless---she has left the children with you and you are the caretaker now. There are some resources for Grandparents raising grandchildren, mostly in the form of support groups and training. Look for these. If you are the primary caretaker and otherwise eligible for welfare type benefits, or for Social Security you may be able to get something for the children too. Contact DES.

Sorry, I don't know the adoption funding facts of Arizona. The best thing is to get the most funding that you deserve, which is to become at least a licensed kinship caregiver. Here's a link for the thread starter......(not sure if it is still up to date.....) [url]https://www.azdes.gov/InternetFiles/Pamphlets/pdf/ACY-1081APAMPD.pdf[/url]

I live in AZ. In AZ the only way you can get a monthly stipend is if the child is in the CPS system. If you have legal guardianship it is considered private - you would not be eligible for any monetary help. We have temporary legal guardianship of a 4yo and we do not qualify for any assistance. We have legal and medical control over our FD but the parents can relinquish the guardianship at any time. It would be nice if we got some monetary help as we are completely on our own - bios don't help out with anything. We went though the state of UT to get this guardianship because our FD and bios lived in UT - through the state of UT the bios could be responsible to give you money to help with the child - it's not mandatory - but is available to us. Bios are in no way able to help out financially so we are on our own. Not sure what AZ requires with regards to financial responsibility from bios to the person who is the guardian. Maybe something to look into. Good luck.

I have the same problem. My daughter has 2 older childern that have lived with me because she was sent away and when she was released she went back to her old ways again. When she finally came back because she was pregnant. CPS would only release the baby to me until she started provong her self. Well the older child 13 said she didnt want anything to do with her so CPS gave me Guardianship and they paid for everything. The other daughter wanted to try it with her mom. After 1 year I told her she need to go and she did taking the 11 year old and 11 month old which tore me apart. They went to leive with my god daughter and after not even 1 month she told the oldest i'm going to the corner store and never came back. So for 2 weeks nobody told me anything and finally I got a call saying please come and get the kids from my god daughter. So I did then I called CPS on my own daughter which was very hard for me but the kids are more important at this time. CPS came out and gave me free daycare and medical which that is the main thing. CPS will get you into some prgrams to help you out. Its so sad that we have to raise the grandchildern.