Guided pathway

Child Protection or the Grandparent and Alternative Care Provider (GACP) Program is involved. What do I look at first?

Start by identifying the kind of placement you are dealing with. That one answer makes the rest of the Child Protection, GACP, legal and financial information much easier to navigate.

Part of Guided Help. Choose a different situation or ask for help finding the right starting point.

Guided pathway reviewed September 2026. It organizes existing Building GRAND-Families resources and does not replace legal, medical or financial advice.

Follow this route in order.

The placement type affects almost everything that comes after it. Start there, then move through Child Protection, GACP, meetings and the longer-term plan.

Name the caregiving arrangement first

Before chasing forms or benefits, work out whether the child is with you informally, through GACP, under another Child Protection arrangement, or under a court order.

Compare PEI kinship care pathways Informal care vs GACP

Understand what Child Protection involvement changes

If Child Protection is involved, learn the basic process, the terms you may hear, and which decisions may sit with the department, the parent or the caregiver. The guide also explains when a worker may need to speak with a child independently of the caregiver.

Child Protection involvement Private conversations with the child

If GACP applies, read the program guide

Use the plain-language GACP guide to understand temporary and permanent placement streams, caregiver questions and where official answers come from. Permanent caregivers can also see why the six-month review happens and how to ask that repeated questions be handled more carefully.

PEI GACP guide Why the six-month review repeats

Prepare for the next meeting instead of relying on memory

Write down what was decided, what is still unclear, who is responsible for the next action and what you need answered before leaving the meeting. If the same painful history keeps being revisited, ask what information actually needs to be updated and whether unchanged information can be carried forward.

How to advocate effectively Questions for a GACP worker

Watch for the longer-term plan

As the situation develops, the next question may become reunification, guardianship, permanency or relative adoption. That is a different stage from the emergency placement itself.

When a child may return to a parent Permanency and relative adoption

Useful printables