Department of Children and Family Services - Approved Relative Caregiver Program

About the Program

Category: Children and Youth (Best in Category)

Year: 2016

The Approved Relative Caregiver (ARC) Program was developed in response to State Senate Bill 855, which was signed into legislation in June 2014. The Bill made provisions for ARC operative as of January 1, 2015. An included provision was the Approved Relative Caregiver Funding Option, which provided funding for participating counties to make per child, per month payments to approved relative caregivers on behalf of non-federally eligible children in an amount equal to the basic foster care rate paid to Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care (AFDC-FC) providers. In addition, counties were able to participate with a retroactive option to pay relative caregivers, who met all eligibility requirements, effective January 1, 2015. As a result of collaborative efforts with the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Department of Public and Social Services (DPSS), the County of Los Angeles formally participated, effective June 1, 2015, with the retroactive option. DCFS was decided upon as the lead agency to implement and administer the program, so as to prevent negative impact to relative caregivers.