Kinship Bill Passes House on the Way to Senate

Kinship Proposals Pass the House You did it! Your hard work made a difference. The PA House of Representatives passed three bills this week that aim to help grandparents and other kin caring for children outside of the child welfare system in Pennsylvania. HB 2133 creates a Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program to help grandparents and other kin identify and access supports and services to help them raise the children in their care.  HB 1539 allows for grandparents or other close relatives to pursue temporary emergency guardianship to care for a child whose parent has entered a rehabilitation facility for treatment of a drug or alcohol addiction or has been subject to emergency medical intervention due to abuse of drugs or alcohol. HR 390 tasks the Joint State Government Commission with studying the trend of "grandfamilies" and the opioid crisis in Pennsylvania, and making recommendations to the General Assembly for next steps. Thank you to all the organizations who signed-on to PPC’s letter in support of HB 2133. We sent the letter to the full House ahead of the bill’s consideration.