Sponsors (4)
Appropriates $10M to HHS to establish a National Technical Assistance Center to support grandfamilies and kinship caregivers with training, coordination, and tailored resources.
The bill directs a modest, multi-year federal investment to create a Center that strengthens supports for grandfamilies, kinship caregivers, and communities (including a substance-use focus), trading broader eligibility and some budget flexibility for targeted, sustained resources.
Grandfamilies and kinship caregivers (especially age 55+ and those caring for children with disabilities) gain access to a national Center offering training, technical assistance, and tailored resources to improve caregiving capacity and child outcomes.
Community-based organizations, Tribal entities, and government programs receive coordinated federal support to better connect services across systems and strengthen local responses for kinship families.
Families affected by caregiver opioid or other substance use get specialized resources and training because the Center explicitly includes an opioid/substance-use focus.
Taxpayers fund the $10 million appropriation, creating a federal budget cost that could displace other priorities or increase fiscal pressure.
Limiting award eligibility to nonprofits with specific prior experience may exclude capable new or smaller providers, reducing competition and community-level innovation in service delivery.
Focusing the Center’s work on caregivers age 55+ and children with disabilities risks leaving other kinship caregivers and child populations with less targeted support.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Official title: To amend the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 to reestablish the National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families.
Introduced July 21, 2026 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress July 21, 2026
Appropriates $10 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to create and operate a National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families. The Center, run by the Assistant Secretary for Aging in coordination with the Administration for Children and Families, will provide training, technical assistance, coordination, and resources focused on caregivers age 55+ and children with disabilities. The bill clarifies the Center’s purpose and activities, tightens language to emphasize developing and delivering services (including for opioid and other substance use), requires tailoring assistance to family needs, and limits grant/contract awards to nonprofits with specified experience working with grandfamilies, kinship families, and Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations.