It's all relative.

• Author: Williams-Mbengue, Nina
• Position: TRENDS & TRANSITIONS - States grant licenses for relatives to care for children

When home is an unsafe place to live, children often benefit by staying with familiar adults. Recently, lawmakers have been making it even easier for grandparents and other relatives to be the loving caregivers for children in stressful situations. States grant provisional, emergency or temporary foster care licenses that allow relatives who are waiting for a full license to to care for children after certain basic safety checks have been completed. Foster care licenses allow relatives to receive the full foster care rate for children in their care as well as an array of other services.

States also grant waivers from certain nonsafety requirements, such as limits on the age of a relative caregiver. While these provisions are usually in state child welfare regulations, recent legislation in Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Nevada, Utah and Virginia also addresses licensing for relative caregivers. In other actions:

* California, Colorado, Hawaii, Indiana and Nevada have expanded the definition of "relative" to include more distant relatives such as great-aunts or second cousins.

* Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Ohio, New York and Virginia have increased financial support to relatives who become legal guardians.

* Louisiana expanded life insurance coverage to include grandchildren in the legal custody of a grandparent.

The federal government...