# What the Promoting Permanency Through Kinship Families Act Does

When children can't safely stay with their parents, this bill makes it easier and more appealing for relatives and close family friends to step in and care for them. Right now, many barriers prevent relatives from becoming official caregivers—things like strict age limits, difficult background check processes, and lack of financial support. This bill removes those obstacles and provides more resources to help relatives who take in children.

The core change is that states must now actively search for and involve relatives and close family friends in every child welfare case, rather than treating it as optional. When a child enters foster care, the state has to make real, ongoing efforts to find family members who could care for the child. If the state decides a relative can't take the child, they have to document exactly why with clear evidence. The bill also stops states from automatically rejecting relatives just because they're older—age alone can't disqualify someone from being a kinship caregiver. Similarly, past allegations of abuse or neglect can't automatically bar someone unless there's specific evidence they currently pose a danger to the child.

The bill also makes it mandatory for states to offer kinship guardianship assistance payments (basically monthly stipends) to relatives caring for children, rather than leaving it up to individual states. It reduces the waiting period before relatives can receive these payments from six months down to three months. Additionally, the bill eliminates a technical requirement that had prevented some children from receiving foster care payments, making more kids eligible for support. States must also invest in new support services for kinship families—things like emergency cash assistance, help finding family members, and counseling—and they can't reduce their spending on kinship support below what they spent in 2025.

The practical effect is that more children will likely stay connected to their biological families through relatives rather than entering the traditional foster care system, and relatives who do take in children will have better financial support and access to services to help them succeed.