Subsidized Guardianship: Recommendation of the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care

For some children in foster care, neither reunification with their birth parents nor adoption is a viable option. In these cases, legal guardianship can be a route out of foster care and into a safe, permanent family. Guardianship is a judicially created, permanent relationship between a child and a caretaker, often a relative.

To increase the likelihood that children will leave foster care for a permanent family, the Pew Commission recommended that the federal government and the states share the cost of subsidized guardianship, in those states that choose to provide such assistance. For the federal government, guardianship would become a Title IV-E reimbursable expense. This means states would be reimbursed for their guardianship expenditures at the same federal match rate as exists for foster care and adoption assistance. Like adoption assistance, guardianship assistance helps families support the needs of the children.

The Pew Commission views subsidized guardianship as an additional route to permanence for children in foster care. It would therefore apply only under the following circumstances:

• When a child has been removed from his or her home and the state child welfare agency has responsibility for placement and care of the child;
  
• When a child has been under the care of the state agency for a given period of time, to be determined by the state;
  
• When a court has explicitly determined that neither reunification nor adoption are feasible permanence options for a particular child; and
  
• When a strong attachment exists between a child and a potential guardian who is committed to caring permanently for the child.

There are many situations in which guardianship might be the best permanence option for a child, including:

• A child is living with a relative (e.g., a grandparent) who is able to make a permanent commitment but does not want to disrupt existing family relationships.
  
• A family where termination of parental rights goes against a strongly held cultural norm, as in Native American cultures.
  
• An adolescent who, after a clear understanding of the options, does not wish to be adopted but desires a permanent connection with his relatives or a foster family.
  
• A situation where a parent’s physical, emotional or cognitive disability prevents him or her from being an active, permanent caregiver but where termination of parental rights is undesired and unwarranted.

Guardianship conveys the following parental rights to the child’s caretaker: custody; responsibility for the protection, education, and care and control of the child; and decision-making responsibilities as the child’s caretaker. Once guardianship is established, children are no longer in the custody of the state. For this reason, guardianship reduces government costs associated with agency oversight of foster care cases.