To amend the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to provide for better protections for children raised in kinship families outside of the foster care system.
About This Bill
Committee
Latest Action · May 23, 2024
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
This bill amends federal child abuse prevention law to extend protections and support to children raised by relatives or close family friends outside the foster care system, commonly called "grandfamilies." More than 2.4 million children are currently in kinship care arrangements, with the vast majority living outside formal foster care. The legislation requires that child welfare agencies prioritize placing children with relatives, identify and engage kinship caregivers as supports throughout the child welfare system, and work toward licensing kinship caregivers as foster parents. It also directs the national child abuse clearinghouse to coordinate with a kinship support technical assistance center to share best practices, requires states to report on children diverted to kinship care outside foster care, and mandates that community prevention programs include training specifically for kinship caregivers on topics such as trauma, behavioral health challenges, and substance use disorders. The bill does not specify funding amounts or implementation timelines.
Take Action
Your position
Add a comment
to comment on this bill.
Annotate the text
Highlight any passage on the Summary or Full Text tab to attach a note. Annotations appear on the Annotations tab.