When a child welfare agency removes a child from an unsafe home, placing that child with a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other relative is usually the first option an agency looks at. Keeping a child with family, often called kinship care, tends to be less disruptive than a placement with strangers. But before a child welfare agency approves that placement, federal and state law require the agency to run a background check on the relative and, in most cases, on every other adult living in that relative’s home.
This article explains what a kinship caregiver background check actually covers, why fingerprints are involved, how licensed and unlicensed relative placements differ, what can disqualify a caregiver, and how a caregiver can challenge a result they believe is wrong.
What counts as kinship care
Kinship care generally means a child who has been removed from their parents is placed with a relative, or sometimes a close family friend the agency considers “fictive kin,” instead of with an unrelated foster family. The arrangement can be informal, where a relative steps in without the child ever entering the foster care system, or formal, where the state child welfare agency has legal custody and places the child with the relative as a type of foster placement. Formal kinship placements are the ones subject to the federal screening rule described below. Informal arrangements made entirely within a family, without agency involvement, are governed mostly by state family law rather than the child welfare background check rules in this article.
The federal fingerprint and registry check rule
Federal law conditions a state’s Title IV-E foster care funding on the state checking criminal history and child abuse and neglect registry records before approving any foster care placement, and kinship placements that go through the state’s foster care system fall under this same rule. Under 42 U.S.C. 671(a)(20), a state plan must provide for criminal records checks, including fingerprint based checks of national crime information databases, for any prospective foster or adoptive parent before the placement can be finally approved, and the check must also cover any other adult living in the household. The same provision requires the state to check its own child abuse and neglect registry, and the registries of any other state where the prospective caregiver or household adult has lived in the preceding five years.
The implementing regulation at 45 CFR 1356.30 spells out how this works for kinship placements specifically. It allows a state to make a provisional kinship placement with a relative while the full background check is still being completed, but only after a name based criminal records check has already come back clear, and the state must still complete the fingerprint based check promptly afterward. A placement cannot become final, and in most cases the relative cannot be licensed or approved as a long term kinship or foster caregiver, until the complete check is done.
What the check actually covers
A kinship caregiver background check generally includes several layers that a typical employment screen does not:
- A fingerprint based state and national criminal history check on the prospective caregiver.
- The same fingerprint based check on every other adult who lives in the caregiver’s household, including adult children, roommates, or a caregiver’s partner.
- A check of the state’s child abuse and neglect central registry, and the registries of any other state the caregiver or household adult lived in during roughly the prior five years.
- A home study or safety assessment, which is not a records check but is required alongside it before a kinship placement is approved or licensed.
- In many states, a sex offender registry check and a check of the state’s driving record if the caregiver will transport the child.
Agencies rerun some of these checks periodically, and a new adult moving into the household generally triggers a new fingerprint check for that person before the placement can continue.
Licensed versus unlicensed kinship placements
States generally handle relative placements one of two ways. A licensed, or “approved,” kinship caregiver meets the same licensing standards as an unrelated foster parent, which usually makes the household eligible for the standard monthly foster care maintenance payment and ongoing support services. An unlicensed kinship caregiver has passed the safety and background check requirements needed for the placement itself but has not completed full foster home licensing, often because the state offers a waiver of one or more nonsafety licensing standards, such as bedroom space requirements, for relatives. Unlicensed kinship homes may receive a lower support payment or none at all, depending on the state, though many states have moved to close or narrow that payment gap in recent years. The background check and registry requirements described above apply to both licensed and unlicensed kinship placements; the waiver options generally apply to physical home standards, not to the criminal history or registry checks.
| Feature | Licensed or approved kinship caregiver | Unlicensed kinship caregiver |
|---|---|---|
| Fingerprint and registry checks | Required, same federal standard | Required, same federal standard |
| Full foster home licensing standards | Must meet all standards | One or more nonsafety standards may be waived |
| Foster care maintenance payment | Generally eligible | Varies by state, sometimes a lower rate or none |
| Ongoing agency supervision | Same as any licensed foster home | Case management continues, but may be less intensive |
What can disqualify a kinship caregiver
Federal law sets a floor that every state must follow, and states can add stricter rules on top of it. Under 42 U.S.C. 671(a)(20)(A), a state may not approve a foster or kinship placement, with narrow exceptions, if the prospective caregiver or another adult in the household has a felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, for spousal abuse, for a crime against a child, including child pornography, or for a crime involving violence, including rape, sexual assault, or homicide, other than a crime involving a child’s own misdemeanor level offense committed as a juvenile. The same provision bars placement where the person has a felony conviction for physical assault, battery, or a drug related offense within the preceding five years. Many states add their own disqualifying offense lists, so a result that falls outside the federal bar can still disqualify a caregiver under state rules, and the full list varies enough that a caregiver should check with the specific state child welfare agency rather than assume a particular offense is automatically disqualifying or automatically fine.
How states apply the rule
The federal statute sets the floor, but each state writes the operating rules for its own kinship program, including how a provisional placement works, what the waiver process looks like, and how often records are rechecked. A few examples show how differently that plays out. Texas describes its relative and designated caregiver process, including background check timing, through its child protective services program; see the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services relative caregiver page. California runs kinship approval through its resource family approval process, which combines the background check with the home study into a single approval standard; see the California Department of Social Services resource family approval page. Pennsylvania maintains a dedicated kinship care program page describing how counties process relative placements; see the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services kinship care page. A caregiver in any other state should confirm current steps directly with that state’s child welfare agency, since specific forms, waiver criteria, and payment rules are not uniform nationwide.
Appeals and review
A kinship caregiver who is denied placement, licensing, or approval based on a background check result generally has a right to receive the specific reason for the denial and to request review or a fair hearing through the state child welfare agency, and separately, if a criminal history record itself is wrong, to dispute that record with the law enforcement agency or state repository that maintains it. The federal government’s child welfare information resource, Child Welfare Information Gateway’s kinship care resources, describes general state exception and waiver processes, though the exact appeal steps and deadlines are set by each state agency, not by federal law, so a caregiver should ask the placing agency for the written denial notice and the specific appeal procedure that applies in that case.
Frequently asked questions
Does every relative who takes in a child need a fingerprint check?
If the placement goes through the state child welfare system, federal law requires a fingerprint based criminal history check on the prospective kinship caregiver and on other adults living in that household before the placement can be finally approved. An informal family arrangement made without agency involvement is not covered by this federal rule.
Can a kinship placement happen before the background check is finished?
Some states allow a provisional placement once an initial name based criminal history check comes back clear, while the full fingerprint based check is still being processed, but the placement generally cannot become final or long term until the complete check is done.
Does a criminal record automatically disqualify a relative from kinship care?
Federal law requires a small set of specific convictions, such as certain crimes against children or violent felonies, to bar approval in most cases. Other criminal history is reviewed under each state’s own standards, and the outcome can depend on the offense, how long ago it occurred, and state specific waiver rules.
Do unlicensed kinship caregivers still get a background check?
Yes. The federal criminal history and child abuse registry check requirement applies to the placement itself, not to whether the home is fully licensed. The licensing waivers some states allow for kinship homes generally apply to nonsafety physical standards, not to the background check.
What if the caregiver disagrees with the background check result?
A caregiver can generally request the specific reason for a denial from the placing agency and ask about the state’s review or fair hearing process, and separately dispute any criminal record believed to be inaccurate with the agency that holds that record.
Agencies that need to verify identity or run a compliant background check as part of a broader hiring or screening program can learn more at Reveal Background. For related screening topics, see our articles on child protective services worker background checks and guardian ad litem and CASA volunteer background checks.
This article is general information, not legal advice. Kinship care and foster placement rules vary by state and by case, and caregivers should confirm current requirements with their state child welfare agency or an attorney.
