Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 24, December 18, 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.
