Someone who is not the kinship caregiver may be able to help you temporarily care for the child or youth when you need a break. This is called a respite care provider. They could be another relative or a family friend.

If they want to get paid a small stipend from DCYF, they’ll need to complete a certification process. The stipend ranges from $22.44 to $75 a day, depending on the child or youth’s needs.

If the person already has a kinship license for other children or youth

If the person wants to get paid by DCYF to temporarily care for the child or youth, tell your licensing worker to do a reassessment, and add the child or youth to their license. Respite payments are taxable income.

For example, let’s say you care for your niece. Another relative is a licensed kinship caregiver for your niece’s sibling. You can tell your licensing worker you want your relative to temporarily care for your niece sometimes. If your relative is approved, they can get respite payments (different from monthly foster care payments) when they care for your niece.

If the person does not have a kinship license

If the person wants to get paid by DCYF to temporarily care for the child or youth, they’ll need to meet the requirements in the next section. The payments (also called respite payments) are taxable income.

Requirements to get paid

To get paid for temporarily caring for the child or youth, the person must complete:

• An online application. We'll send the person an email with instructions to access the application in the Washington Caregiver Application Portal (WA CAP).
• An FBI fingerprint-based background check
• At least one interview
• An Infant Safety Agreement form

If you plan for the child or youth to stay at the person’s home, we’ll also do a walkthrough of their home. A licensor will check that the home meets certain safety requirements. Everyone in the home and on the property who is 16 years of age and older and will have unsupervised access to the child or youth must also pass a background check.