Nearly 40% more relatives and other “kin” are receiving state support to help raise children in Colorado’s foster care system than were at this time last year, after legislators streamlined the process for families that want to take in a child.

Last year, a change in state law made it easier for “kinship” caregivers to get certified as foster care providers for a child they know. Once a kinship family gets certified, they receive the same daily rate as foster families that take in children they don’t know, which ranges from $43 to $66 per day, depending on the child’s age.

The law change also allowed kinship families who hadn’t completed the certification process to get paid 30% of the rate the state normally contributes to foster families. In July, those families will become eligible for half the normal rate.

Now, family members who want to get certified can complete a shorter training course and a less-complex version of the vetting process than families who are fostering children they don’t know have to go through. Uncertified families also have to complete some paperwork, such as background checks on the adults in the house.

DeAndrea Beres, of Delta, underwent the more-intensive certification process when she took in her nephew in December 2022, and now guides families through the simplified version as a caseworker. She adopted the boy, now 3, in June.

The training was “a lot,” particularly at a time when she was rearranging her life to prepare to care for a child, Beres said. At the time, she was traveling frequently between Delta and Denver for work and had no plans for motherhood.

“It definitely changed my life, for the better in a lot of ways,” she said of fostering and then adopting her nephew.

Streamlining the process made it easier for more families to step up, Beres said. Easing certification has particularly helped grandparents and others on fixed incomes who can’t raise a child without the financial support that foster families receive, she said.

“For a lot of my families, this has made a big difference,” she said of the change to state law. “You can do it if you want to open up your heart and your home.”

‘The more grace we’re able to give’

As of Sept. 3, the state had certified 813 kinship families, up from 588 in early September 2024, said Toilynn Edwards, placement resources administrator with the Colorado Department of Human Services.

The number of children in out-of-home placements — including both traditional foster care and kinship homes — has remained stable, so it appears that more kinship families have been able to make it through the certification process, she said.

About 41% of 2,385 children in certified placements as of early October are in kinship homes. The group only includes families caring for kids who are in the child welfare system; an unknown number of people are caring for children of their relatives or friends without any state involvement.

Kids who live with a kinship caregiver tend to have fewer placements because going to stay with a relative is less traumatic than moving into a stranger’s house, Edwards said. In addition, kinship providers are less likely to give up on kids with challenging behaviors related to trauma, since they know the child’s story and already have a relationship, she said.

“The longer that we’ve known somebody, the more grace we’re able to give people,” she said.

Previously, kinship families had to complete 27 hours of training to get certified, as traditional foster families do, Edwards said. Now, they only have to complete six hours of initial training, with continuing education and support throughout the child’s stay, she said.

“We’ve taken down those barriers,” she said.

The first round of training focuses on keeping the child safe, how the foster system works and dealing with behaviors resulting from trauma, Edwards said. It also covers ways to handle changing roles when a grandparent or aunt becomes a full-time caregiver, she said.

Families going through the process now tend to report less stress than those who had to take the full training, which wasn’t always feasible for people working full time, said Suzanne Daniels, family engagement division manager for Boulder County.

“Six hours is so much more manageable,” she said.

‘The opportunity to focus on parenting’

The larger counties have designated kinship workers to help families with whatever resources and training they need while caring for a foster child, Daniels said. Generally, that works better than trying to teach everything they might need to know when the child first moves in, she said.

“We’re able to support families, get them the financial assistance they need, while allowing them the opportunity to focus on parenting,” she said.