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House approves stipend bill for grandparents raising grandchildren affected by opioid use
Summary
House Bill 15 28, creating a one‑time stipend to support grandparents who are primary caregivers for grandchildren because of opioid use disorder, passed the House on Nov. 18, 2025. Sponsor Rep. Madden cited hundreds of thousands of caregiving grandparents.
The Pennsylvania House approved House Bill 15 28 on Nov. 18, 2025, a bill the sponsor described as providing a one‑time stipend to grandparents who are raising grandchildren because of opioid use disorder. Rep. Maureen Madden (S12), the bill’s prime sponsor on the floor, urged passage and described the measure as a focused recognition and financial support for caregiving grandparents.
Madden framed the bill as recognizing the sacrifices of kinship caregivers and described the scope of the issue: she said, "Across our commonwealth, more than 1.5 Pennsylvanians serve as unpaid caregivers" and emphasized that many grandparents live on fixed incomes and face financial strain. She called the stipend ‘‘not charity. It’s a 1 time recognition.’’
The clerk recorded the final passage with the yeas as 200 and nays as 3 (as read in the record during that sequence); the bill will be presented to the Senate for concurrence. The House summary on the floor characterized the measure as providing a stipend to grandparents raising grandchildren due to opioid use disorder.
Supporters said the payment acknowledges caregivers who keep children with family and reduce demand on foster systems and state institutions; floor remarks did not include detailed fiscal or eligibility breakdowns in the transcript.
