KINSHIP CAREGIVER SUPPORT PILOT PROGRAM

New help for relatives raising children

The law takes effect immediately and creates a three-year pilot within New Mexico’s Aging and Long-Term Services Department. It covers five to seven counties and serves 50 caregivers in each participating community. Participants must be New Mexico residents raising and supporting a child in New Mexico. Caregivers include grandparents, other relatives besides parents, and nonrelatives with a close emotional bond with the child. The department and community partners must set application and eligibility rules that consider household income and children’s needs. Participants get access to services and referrals, including referrals to partners’ monthly financial support programs; no payment amount is set. The program budget must cover staff help, legal help for caregivers seeking custody or kinship guardianship, and administration. The department must coordinate public benefits and partner services, seek additional resources, and determine requirements for available federal funds, including Title IV-E funds. Program rules are due by June 1, 2025. Reports on results and recommendations are due to the Legislative Finance Committee by December 1, 2025, and each December 1 afterward.