Congress expands child welfare protections to 2.4 million kids in informal kinship care
H.R. 9878 — Help Grandfamilies Prevent Child Abuse Act · Filed by Mary Scanlon (D-PA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jul 22, 2026 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill amends the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) to extend protections and support services to the 2.4 million children being raised by relatives (grandparents, aunts, uncles, family friends) outside the formal foster care system—a population currently underserved by federal child welfare law. The bill requires states receiving federal grants to prioritize kinship placements, fund kinship navigators and support services, track outcomes for children diverted to kinship care, and ensure kinship caregivers receive training on trauma, substance use, and behavioral health.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to extend federal child abuse prevention and treatment protections to kinship families outside the foster care system by amending CAPTA to require states to prioritize kinship placements, fund support services, and track outcomes for this population.
What the text implies
- States may face increased administrative burden and cost to implement kinship navigator programs and training, though the bill does not specify new federal funding—implementation may depend on appropriations or reallocation of existing CAPTA grants.
- The bill's requirement to 'prioritize placement with kin as the first placement' may shift child welfare practice away from non-relative foster care, potentially affecting the foster care workforce and agencies that rely on foster care placements.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
States receiving CAPTA grants (federal funding flows to state child welfare agencies); Organizations providing kinship support services and training (nonprofits, technical assistance cent; Kinship navigator programs and community-based organizations contracted to support kinship families