II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 639 

To establish a National Technical Assistance Center on Grandfamilies and 

Kinship Families 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 9, 2021 

Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish a National Technical Assistance Center on 

Grandfamilies and Kinship Families 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Grandfamilies Tech5 nical Assistance Center Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. NATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER ON 

7 GRANDFAMILIES AND KINSHIP FAMILIES. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to amounts otherwise 

9 available, there is appropriated to the Secretary of Health 

10 and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of 


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1 the Administration for Community Living, out of any 

2 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, 

3 $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, to remain available 

4 through September 30, 2025, to establish, directly or 

5 through grants or contracts, a National Technical Assist6 ance Center on Grandfamilies and Kinship Families (in 

7 this section referred to as the ‘‘Center’’) to provide train8 ing, technical assistance, and resources for government 

9 programs, nonprofit and other community-based organiza10 tions, and Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and urban 

11 Indian organizations, that serve grandfamilies and kinship 

12 families to support the health and well-being of members 

13 of grandfamilies and kinship families, including care14 givers, children, and their parents. The Center shall focus 

15 primarily on serving grandfamilies and kinship families in 

16 which the primary caregiver is an adult age 55 or older, 

17 or the child has one or more disabilities. 

18 (b) ACTIVITIES OF THE CENTER.—The Center 

19 shall— 

20 (1) engage experts to stimulate the development 

21 of new and identify existing evidence-based, evi22 dence-informed, and exemplary practices or pro23 grams related to health promotion (including mental 

24 health and substance use disorder treatment), edu25 cation, nutrition, housing, financial needs, legal 


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1 issues, disability self-determination, caregiver sup2 port, and other issues to help serve caregivers, chil3 dren, and their parents in grandfamilies and kinship 

4 families; 

5 (2) encourage and support the implementation 

6 of the evidence-based, evidence-informed, and exem7 plary practices or programs identified under para8 graph (1) to support grandfamilies and kinship fam9 ilies and to promote coordination of services for 

10 grandfamilies and kinship families across systems 

11 that support them; 

12 (3) facilitate learning across States, territories, 

13 Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and urban In14 dian organizations for providing technical assistance, 

15 resources, and training related to issues described in 

16 paragraph (1) to individuals and entities across sys17 tems that directly work with grandfamilies and kin18 ship families; 

19 (4) help government programs, nonprofit and 

20 other community-based organizations, and Indian 

21 Tribes, Tribal organizations, and urban Indian orga22 nizations, serving grandfamilies and kinship families, 

23 to plan and coordinate responses to assist 

24 grandfamilies and kinship families during national, 


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1 State, Tribal, territorial, and local emergencies and 

2 disasters; and 

3 (5) assist government programs, and nonprofit 

4 and other community-based organizations, in pro5 moting equity and implementing culturally and lin6 guistically appropriate approaches as the programs 

7 and organizations serve grandfamilies and kinship 

8 families. 

Æ 


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