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Child Disability Allowance : Contents

Residential home

To receive Child Disability Allowance for children in residential homes the following criteria must be met:

  • the principal caregiver is required to pay a board charge and
  • the child is in the care of the principal caregiver during weekends and school holidays

This includes a principal temporary caregiver of a child for whom Orphans Benefit or Unsupported Childs Benefit is paid.

Note a liberal interpretation can be applied when assessing the last criteria if there is a board charge. If a child returns home for some weekends or school holidays over a 6 month period and a board charge is paid, accept that the criteria is fulfilled.

The Child Disability Allowance can be paid to the principal caregivers of children in the following residential homes:

  • IDEA Services homes
  • CCS homes
  • Hohepa homes or
  • other religious hostels run by religious or welfare organisations
Shared care - principal caregiver
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For Orphans Benefit or Unsupported Childs Benefit, the principal temporary caregiver is the person who has the primary responsibility for the day-to-day care of the child for a short-term, unknown, or uncertain period, and is not the natural or adoptive parent of the child.

The principal caregiver is the person who has the permanent primary responsibility for the day-to-day care of the child, other than on a temporary basis. It does not include proprietors or employees of any childcare home or institution.