@Earline1970 If your grandchildren live with you for 2021 then you will be able to claim them next year when you file your 2021 tax return ---- in 2022.
If you are asking about the new child tax credit, that begins later --- in July 2021---and details are not all known yet on how it will work, especially if you recently gained custody of the children. Wait for further information from the IRS about that.
That CTC increase is not for 2020; it is for 2021. Your 2020 return does not have to be amended for it. More information will be available soon; the details of how it will be implemented have not yet been clarified fully. There may be monthly payments going out beginning in July 2021, with some of the CTC still left as a refundable credit on your 2021 tax return next year.
https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/tax-topics/help/how-will-the-stimulus-package-impact-me/01/1393859...
https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/advance-child-tax-credit-payments-in-2021
**Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to offer the most correct information possible. The poster disclaims any legal responsibility for the accuracy of the information that is contained in this post.**
