What is a grandfamily?

Information reviewed September 2026. Program rules and services can change, so use the linked official source for current requirements.

A grandfamily is a family created when relatives or other trusted people step in to raise a child

On this site, grandfamily and kinship family describe families in which grandparents, other adult relatives, or people with an established relationship to a child take on day-to-day care because a parent is not currently providing that care. Families use different words for themselves, and no single label fits everyone.

That can include grandparents and great-grandparents, but also aunts, uncles, adult siblings, cousins, godparents, close family friends or other people with an established relationship to the child.

You do not have to identify as a "caregiver"

Many people doing this job never describe themselves as a kinship caregiver. They say, “I’m raising my granddaughter,” “my nephew lives with me,” or “I took in my friend’s child.” The label matters less than recognizing the reality: you have day-to-day responsibility for a child whose parent is not currently providing that care.

Grandfamilies can form for many reasons

• Parental substance use or addiction.
• Family violence or child protection concerns.
• Death, serious illness or disability of a parent.
• Incarceration.
• Mental health challenges.
• Housing instability or another family crisis.
• A longer-term family agreement that began informally.

Not every grandfamily is involved with Child Protection

This is an important distinction. Many kinship families are arranged privately between relatives or family friends. Others are created because Child Protection is involved and the child needs an out-of-home placement. In PEI, the GACP program applies specifically to qualifying child-protection situations, not automatically to every grandparent or relative raising a child.

Read: Informal kinship care vs GACP in PEI

Why kinship care can be good for children

When it is safe and appropriate, living with someone the child already knows can preserve family relationships, identity, culture, community connections and a sense of belonging. It can also reduce some of the disruption that comes with moving into an unfamiliar home.

That does not make the arrangement easy. Caregivers may still face legal uncertainty, financial pressure, trauma, school issues, complicated relationships with parents and the emotional shock of becoming responsible for a child unexpectedly.

Where Building GRAND-Families fits

Building GRAND-Families began with grandparents raising grandchildren, but our resource work is intended to be useful to the wider kinship and alternative-caregiver community in Prince Edward Island.

PEI and Canadian reference points

• Grandfamilies and kinship care in PEI: the facts
• Government of PEI: GACP Program