Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) When the Division
determines kinship legal guardianship as a permanent plan for the child, the
Division representative advises a relative interested in the CP&P Legal
Guardianship Subsidy Program of the requirements for eligibility and the
circumstances that require termination of the program.
(b) A child is eligible for the CP&P Legal
Guardianship Subsidy Program when:
1. A Division
representative placed the child with a relative due to safety or risk of harm issues
and the Division had legal authority for placement through a court order;
2. The relative is related to the child through
blood, marriage, adoption, civil union, or domestic partnership or is a family
friend as defined at
N.J.A.C.
3A:11-1.3;
3. A Division representative made reasonable
efforts when required to reunify the child and the parent;
4. The Division representative determines that the
child cannot be returned to his or her parent and that adoption is neither likely
nor feasible;
5. The relative or
successor has obtained kinship legal guardianship, pursuant to the Kinship Legal
Guardianship Act,
N.J.S.A.
3B:12A-5; and
6. The relative's home meets the licensing
standards for resource family homes articulated in N.J.A.C. 3A:51 for as long as the
subsidy is paid.
(c) Upon the
death or incapacitation of the relative with whom a child was placed under (b)
above, a child remains eligible for the CP&P Legal Guardianship Subsidy Program
if:
1. The child enters the care and custody of a
successor guardian named in the initial agreement or an amendment made to that
agreement executed prior to the death or incapacitation of the kinship legal
guardian with whom the child was placed under (b) above.
2. No unreasonable time has elapsed and no person
has had custody of the child between the death or incapacitation of the kinship
legal guardian with whom the child was placed under (b) above and the assumption of
care and custody by the successor guardian.
3. The successor guardian is licensed or
provisionally licensed as a resource family provider at the time of the child's
placement in his or her home, and that home continues to meet the licensing
standards for resource family homes articulated in N.J.A.C. 3A:51, for as long as
the subsidy is paid; and
4. Within
reasonable time, not to exceed 540 days from the date that the successor guardian
assumes care and custody of the child, the successor guardian petitions for kinship
legal guardianship pursuant to the Kinship Legal Guardianship Act, N.J.S.A.
3B:121A-5.
(d) The agreement,
and amendments to it, shall be executed using forms provided by the Division and in
accordance with procedures provided for their use. No agreement, or amendment to it,
shall be considered validly executed unless and until approved in writing by the
Director or his or her designee.
