Wyoming program
Support for an older relative raising a child
Wyoming's family caregiver program offers support to some older relatives who are raising children.
What it is
Wyoming's family caregiver program offers support to some older relatives who are raising children.
A grandparent or another older relative may need support while caring for a child in treatment. Your social worker can help identify the office serving older relatives in your county. That office confirms the age, relationship and care-arrangement rules and the help available.
Who this can help
- The administering office confirms the current caregiver and child age requirements and which relatives can qualify.
- The office also confirms whether this branch serves your county and how the child's living arrangement affects eligibility.
What you get
- A check of caregiver support available locally and any waiting list or family cost.
What the help includes
- The local aging-services office must confirm which support is available to an older relative raising a child, whether that includes respite, and any limits, waiting list or family charge. The separate older-adult respite voucher is not the same benefit.
If you decide to apply
- You can ask the social worker to help find the office responsible for older-relative caregiver support in your county.
- Discuss the caregiver's and child's ages, relationship and living arrangement. The administering office confirms any documents it needs.
Local aging or public health office: National Family Caregiver Support Program · Official page ↗
After you ask
- The local office decides what support it can arrange for the caregiver.
- The social worker can help identify the current office that handles support for older relatives raising children in your county. That office needs to confirm the relationship and care-arrangement evidence, any assessment, the request process and how long support may take to become available.
Good to know
The older-relative program and the separate older-adult respite voucher have different rules. A voucher for caring for an older adult does not establish help for a child.
Other details
- Living with a parent does not by itself establish whether an older relative qualifies. The office checks the actual caregiving arrangement and any parent or foster-care exclusion.
- Eligibility depends on the program’s current definition of an older relative caregiver and the child’s living and care arrangement. The local office must check relationship, any parent exclusion, custody and income rules, and whether this branch is available in your county.
Official sources
“If an older relative is raising our child, could this program offer useful support in our county? Could you help us understand what it provides and whether to request it?”
Why I’m asking: I want to know what support exists for relatives carrying the day-to-day care.
More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules
Who does what
The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.
You
Ring the local office and ask what is available in your county.
Your social worker
The social worker can find the local office number.
The care team
Records and letters when the application asks for them.
- Who decides
- The local aging services office.
- Ask the agency
- “I am a grandparent raising my grandchild, who is in cancer treatment. Is there caregiver support for older relatives raising children in this county?”
How to apply
First step: Call your local aging or public health office and ask what caregiver support exists in your county.
- Call the local office and ask what caregiver support exists where you live.
- If you are in Johnson, Laramie or Sheridan county, ask for the older-relative branch by name.
- Ask whether the respite voucher pilot covers caring for a child in your county.
Official application / program page ↗
Where it starts: Call your local aging or public health office and ask about caregiver support for an older relative raising a child.
What to gather
- Your age and the child's
- Your county
- Proof you are raising the child
How long: Not published. Ask at the local office.
What a yes looks like
Support arranged through the local office.
What a no looks like, and the next move
Usually the county or the ages. Ask what else the office knows of nearby.
Watch out
- Only three counties are named for this branch, so ask your local office what exists near you.
- The relative has to be 55 or over and the child 17 or under.
- The respite voucher pilot in other counties is normally for caring for someone 60 or over.
The numbers and the rules
The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.
What it is worth
Caregiver support in Johnson, Laramie and Sheridan counties for a relative aged 55 or over raising a child aged 17 or under.
- $55 — Minimum age of the relative caregiver
- $17 — Maximum age of the child
Covers: Caregiver support for an older relative raising a child, in the three named counties
What it costs the family: Not published.
The eligibility facts, as published
- Caregiver age
- 55 or over
- Child age
- 17 or under
- Geography
- Johnson, Laramie and Sheridan counties for the older-relative branch
The trap: The separate respite voucher pilot, which runs in six other counties, is normally for people caring for someone aged 60 or over. Do not assume it covers a relative caring for a child with cancer; ask.
Where I read this
- National Family Caregiver Support Program — Wyoming Department of Health, read September 10, 2026
- Respite Voucher Program — Wyoming Department of Health, read September 10, 2026