Next Steps on Kinship Care Policy

May 16

On February 8, three organizations – Generations United, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and Think of Us – hosted the release of the Kinship Unity Action Agenda, a comprehensive set of policy recommendations and action items that would further support kinship care. This action agenda built on a previous meeting of advocates, professionals, and individuals with lived experience that Generations United’s National Center on Grandfamilies convened in 2023.

The agenda includes dozens of recommendations across several general policy priorities, including:

Ensuring that kinship caregivers receive equitable financial and other supports

Ensuring policies meet kinship families’ basic needs
Fully integrating lived expertise into policy review, design, and implementation
Ensuring racial/cultural equity and respect and support for tribal sovereignty
Ensuring that the child welfare system respects, values, and fully supports kinship families
Providing affordable, high-quality legal representation for kinship families
Supporting effective strategies to change the public narrative on kinship care
Developing specialized programs to meet the unique needs of kinship families
Enhancing social science research on all kinship families to better address inequities across systems

Although Voice for Adoption has not taken specific positions on most of these recommendations, we have expressed support for expanding and supporting kinship care in our approved policy priorities, including supporting the work of Generations United on this issue. Some legislative items that may see action this year in Congress follow below.

Inclusion of Guardianship Assistance in the Title IV-B Adoption Set-Aside
As discussed in previous editions of the VFA Update, reauthorization of Title IV-B programs remains a possibility this year, with many potential issues related to adoptionexpected to be considered. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives continues to take the lead on this issue. House Ways and Means staff are currently assembling draft legislation.

One issue that some kinship advocates are pressing for is the inclusion of guardianship in the Title IV-B set-aside for adoption promotion and support services. Under current law and existing HHS regulations, approximately 20 percent of Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program funding within Title IV-B is being set aside for adoption promotion and support. This amounts to about $60-80 million each year.

Under the proposal, the Title IV-B definition for Adoption Promotion and Support Services (42 U.S. Code § 629a(a)(8)) would be updated and renamed to include guardianship. Including guardianship within this set aside would divert some resources currently used to support adoption to guardianship.

Voice for Adoption strongly supports of kinship and guardianship programs but has not yet taken a position on this proposal. VFA is strongly supportive of the 20 percent set aside in Title IV-B for adoption promotion and support, for example, but is also seeking alternative (and potentially larger) support through eligibility for Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) funding. Does your organization have a position on expanding the Title IV-B set aside for adopton to include guardianship? Please let us know.

Reintroduction of the Help Grandfamilies Prevent Child Abuse Act
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) is expected to reintroduce legislation in the coming weeks that would make a number of changes to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to make it more supportive of grandfamilies who are raising children who are kin. The legislation, called the Help Grandfamilies Prevent Child Abuse Act, is nearly identical to legislation introduced in the last session of Congress ((S. 1548 / H.R. 2747).

Key provisions of the legislation include:

Advisory Board on Child Abuse and Neglect: Updates the membership of this federal advisory board to include organizations providing services to kinship families and individuals who are birth parents, kinship caregivers, and/or foster care alumni.
National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information: Directs this clearinghouse to coordinate with the National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families to disseminate information about evidence-based, evidence-informed, and exemplary practices.
Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) Grants: Updates the legal purpose of these community-based CAPTA grants to include supporting the unique needs of kinship families raising children inside or outside the foster care system. Grants may be made to support training on understanding substance use disorders and the impact of trauma on children or other specific needs of kinship caregivers.

Voice for Adoption has joined other kinship care supporting organizations, such as Generations United, in endorsing this legislation.

Grandfamilies and the Older Americans Act
The Older Americans Act (OAA), last authorized in 2020, is set to be reauthorized again sometime soon. Generations United has played a key role in including a number of kinship-friendly provisions in the OAA over the years, including the National Family Caregiver Support Program, the Grant Program for Multigenerational Collaboration, and the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act. VFA expects to support these and other provisions in any reauthorization of the Act.