I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7012 
To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act to provide grants 
to develop and enhance, or to evaluate, kinship navigator programs, 
and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 2, 2018 
Ms. BASS (for herself and Mr. MARINO) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means 
A BILL 
To amend part B of title IV of the Social Security Act 
to provide grants to develop and enhance, or to evaluate, 
kinship navigator programs, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Supporting Kinship 
Connections Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
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(1) 2,500,000 children in the United States are 
living in kinship care with grandparents or other rel-
atives. 
(2) With the rise of substance abuse, including 
heroin and other opioid use, more kin caregivers are 
stepping up to raise children who are in need of fos-
ter care and permanent homes. 
(3) Grandparents and relatives residing in 
urban, rural, and suburban households in every 
county of the United States have stepped forward 
out of love and loyalty to care for children during 
times in which parents are unable to do so. 
(4) Kinship caregivers provide safety, promote 
well-being, and establish stable households for vul-
nerable children. 
(5) Kinship care enables a child to maintain 
family relationships and cultural heritage and re-
main in the community of the child. 
(6) Kinship care is a national resource that pro-
vides loving homes for children at risk. 
(7) Kinship caregivers face daunting challenges 
to keep countless children from entering foster care. 
(8) Kinship navigator programs have been 
shown to proactively provide support to kinship care-
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givers in an effort to avert crises and potentially 
prevent more costly services. 
(9) Kinship placement decreases the likelihood 
that children will run away and end up on the 
streets where they are at risk of trafficking. 
(10) Children in kinship placements are less 
likely to be moved from placement to placement. 
(11) Children in kinship placements are less 
likely to struggle with behavioral health and less 
likely to be maltreated. 
SEC. 3. GRANTS TO DEVELOP, ENHANCE, OR EVALUATE 
KINSHIP NAVIGATOR PROGRAMS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 427 of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 627) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 427. KINSHIP NAVIGATOR PROGRAM GRANTS. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—The Secretary shall make grants 
to States, to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal 
consortia, and to community-based organizations to de-
velop and enhance kinship navigator programs, or to 
evaluate such programs, in order to promote the use of 
kinship navigator programs by all such entities, and to ad-
vance the knowledge and use of kinship navigator pro-
grams that meet— 
‘‘(1) the evidence-based practices criteria to 
qualify for payments under section 474(a)(7); and 
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‘‘(2) the requirements described in subsection 
(b)(1) of this section. 
‘‘(b) PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) MANDATORY
REQUIREMENTS.—The re-
quirements described in this paragraph are the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(A) The kinship navigator program is de-
signed to assist kinship caregivers in learning 
about, finding, and using programs and services 
to meet the needs of the children they are as-
sisting or raising, and their own needs, and to 
promote effective partnerships among public 
and private agencies to ensure kinship caregiver 
families are served. 
‘‘(B) The kinship navigator program is co-
ordinated with other State or local agencies 
that promote service coordination or provide in-
formation and referral services, including the 
entities that provide 2–1–1 or 3–1–1 informa-
tion systems where available, to avoid duplica-
tion or fragmentation of services to kinship care 
families. 
‘‘(C) The kinship navigator program is 
planned and operated in consultation with kin-
ship caregivers and organizations representing 
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them, youth raised by kinship caregivers, rel-
evant government agencies, and relevant com-
munity-based or faith-based organizations. 
‘‘(D) The kinship navigator program estab-
lishes information and referral systems that 
link (via toll-free access) kinship caregivers, 
kinship support group facilitators, and kinship 
service providers to— 
‘‘(i) each other; 
‘‘(ii) eligibility and enrollment infor-
mation for Federal, State, and local bene-
fits; 
‘‘(iii) relevant training to assist kin-
ship caregivers in caregiving and in obtain-
ing benefits and services; and 
‘‘(iv) relevant legal assistance and 
help in obtaining legal services. 
‘‘(E) The kinship navigator program pro-
vides outreach to kinship care families, includ-
ing by establishing, distributing, and updating a 
kinship care website, or other relevant guides or 
outreach materials. 
‘‘(F) The kinship navigator program pro-
motes— 
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‘‘(i) partnerships between public and 
private agencies, including schools and uni-
versities, community-based or faith-based 
organizations, and relevant government 
agencies, to increase their knowledge of the 
needs of kinship care families and other in-
dividuals who are willing and able to assist 
parents to help prevent children from en-
tering foster care or to be foster parents; 
and 
‘‘(ii) improved services for such fami-
lies and individuals. 
‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES.—In addition to 
meeting the requirements described in paragraph 
(1), a grant under this section may be used to assist 
a kinship navigator program in— 
‘‘(A) establishing and supporting a kinship 
care ombudsman with authority to intervene 
and help kinship caregivers access services; 
‘‘(B) supporting any other activities de-
signed to assist kinship caregivers in obtaining 
benefits 
and 
services 
to 
improve 
their 
caregiving, including in-person supportive serv-
ices; 
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‘‘(C) negotiating, managing, and imple-
menting agreements to enable the kinship navi-
gator program obtain data from the informa-
tion systems used to carry out a State program 
funded under part A, or a State plan developed 
in accordance with this subpart, or approved 
under subpart 2 of this part; and 
‘‘(D) public education and awareness of 
kinship placement and processes. 
‘‘(c) APPLICATIONS.—In order to receive a grant 
under this section, a State, Indian tribe, tribal organiza-
tion, tribal consortium, or community-based organization 
shall submit to the Secretary an application, at such time 
and in such manner as the Secretary shall require, that 
contains the following: 
‘‘(1) A description of how the grant will be used 
to develop, enhance, or evaluate kinship navigator 
programs that meets the requirements of subsection 
(b)(1), and whether the State or tribal entity intends 
to carry out any of the activities described in sub-
section (b)(2). 
‘‘(2) A description of how kinship caregivers 
and the children they care for will be identified and 
an initial projection of the number of children and 
kin caregivers that will be served. 
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‘‘(3) A description of how the State intends to 
make its kinship navigator program available as 
broadly as possible, including on a statewide basis 
whenever possible. 
‘‘(4) A description of how the State intends to 
sustain the kinship navigator program after the end 
of the grant funding, including through use of fund-
ing available under section 474(a)(7). 
‘‘(5) An assurance that the State, Indian tribe, 
tribal organization, tribal consortium, or community- 
based organization will cooperate fully with any eval-
uation provided for by the Secretary with respect to 
grants made under this section. 
‘‘(6) Any other information that the Secretary 
may require. 
‘‘(d) GRANT ALLOTMENTS AND PAYMENTS.— 
‘‘(1) ALLOTMENTS
TO
STATES, TRIBES, OR 
COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS.—Subject to the 
succeeding paragraphs of this subsection, from the 
amounts appropriated to carry out this section for a 
fiscal year, after the application of the amounts re-
served under subsection (e) for the fiscal year, the 
Secretary shall allot to each State that has sub-
mitted an application for a grant under this section 
(and to each Indian tribe, tribal organization, or 
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tribal consortium that has submitted an application 
for a grant to be paid from an allotment under this 
paragraph) for the fiscal year an amount equal to 
the sum of— 
‘‘(A) $200,000; and 
‘‘(B) the product of— 
‘‘(i) the amount remaining after mak-
ing the reservations required under sub-
section (e), and allotting the amount de-
scribed in subparagraph (A) to each such 
State and each such Indian tribe, tribal or-
ganization, or tribal consortium, for the 
fiscal year; and 
‘‘(ii) the proportion that the number 
of children in the State, Indian tribe, tribal 
organization, or tribal consortium for the 
fiscal year bears to the total number of 
children for all the States (and all the In-
dian tribes, tribal organizations, and tribal 
consortia provided with a grant paid from 
an allotment under this paragraph) for the 
fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) 
ALLOTMENTS
TO
CERTAIN
TERRI-
TORIES.—In the case of an allotment determined 
under paragraph (1) for the United States Virgin Is-
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a grant from an allotment under subsection (d)(1) 
for the fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE, EVALUATIONS, 
AND GUIDANCE.—The Secretary shall reserve 5 per-
cent of the funds appropriated for a fiscal year to 
carry out this section to provide technical assistance, 
evaluations emphasizing community-based participa-
tory methods that align programs with local knowl-
edge and community values, and guidance to grant-
ees, and to carry out, by grant, contract, or inter-
agency agreement, cross-site evaluations for pur-
poses of identifying evidence-based practices criteria 
that will qualify for payment under section 
474(a)(7). 
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi-
tion to any amounts otherwise appropriated to carry out 
this subpart, there are authorized to be appropriated to 
the Secretary for purposes of making grants under this 
section, $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2019 and 
2020, to remain available until expended. 
‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) INDIAN TRIBE; TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.— 
The terms ‘Indian tribe’ and ‘tribal organization’ 
have the meanings given such terms in section 
428(c). 
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‘‘(2) STATE.—The term ‘State’ has the mean-
ing given that term in section 1101 for purposes of 
this title and includes the Northern Mariana Is-
lands.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 474(a)(7) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
674(a)(7)) 
is 
amended 
by 
striking 
‘‘section 
427(a)(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 427(b)(1)’’. 
(2) Section 476 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 676) is 
amended— 
(A) in subsection (c)(2)(A)(ii)— 
(i) in subclause (I), by striking ‘‘and’’ 
after the semicolon; and 
(ii) by inserting after subclause (II) 
the following: 
‘‘(III) Indian tribes, tribal orga-
nizations, or tribal consortia seeking 
to develop and enhance kinship navi-
gator programs, or to evaluate such 
programs, in order to promote their 
use by tribal entities, and to advance 
the knowledge and use of kinship nav-
igator programs that meet the evi-
dence-based practices to qualify for 
payments under section 474(a)(7) and 
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the requirements described in section 
427(b)(1); and’’; and 
(B) in subsection (d)(2), by striking ‘‘sec-
tion 
427(a)(1)’’ 
and 
inserting 
‘‘section 
427(b)(1)’’. 
(c) TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.— 
(1) Section 428(c) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
628(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘by subsections (e) 
and (l) of section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination 
and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b), re-
spectively’’ and inserting ‘‘under section 4 of the In-
dian Self Determination and Education Assistance 
Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)’’. 
(2) Section 479B(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
679c(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘450b’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘5304’’. 
(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall take effect on October 1, 2018. 
Æ 
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