---
type: "Bill"
title: "Kinship Guardianship Assistance program; expands eligibility, fictive kin, definition."
description: "Kinship Guardianship Assistance program; eligibility; fictive kin. Expands eligibility for the Kinship Guardianship Assistance program by allowing payments to be made to fictive kin who receive custody of a child of whom they had been the foster parent. This bill is identical to HB 933."
jurisdiction: "us/states/va"
legislature: "Virginia General Assembly"
session: "2020"
identifier: "SB 178"
citation: "Virginia SB 178 (2020)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Barbara A. Favola"]
version_count: 4
action_count: 29
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2019-12-21"
last_action: "2020-03-10"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/80da4c72-761f-4df6-aef8-62ce0049ea49"
source_url: "https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+sum+SB178"
source_hash: "8382fa297d837c4d80cb4ec71b73cdbfef1795a642434880071c89ede8082b89"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-va"]
---

# Virginia SB 178 (2020) — Kinship Guardianship Assistance program; expands eligibility, fictive kin, definition.

Kinship Guardianship Assistance program; eligibility; fictive kin. Expands eligibility for the Kinship Guardianship Assistance program by allowing payments to be made to fictive kin who receive custody of a child of whom they had been the foster parent. This bill is identical to HB 933.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Acts of Assembly Chapter text (CHAP0224)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+CHAP0224)
2. **Bill text as passed Senate and House (SB178ER)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB178ER)
3. **Impact statement from DPB (SB178S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB178S1)
4. **Impact statement from DPB (SB178S1)** (committee substitute) — [source](https://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?201+ful+SB178)

## Votes

- Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute (14-Y 0-N) — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) — **22–0** (pass) · lower
- VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) — **97–0** (pass) · lower
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N) — **40–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Barbara A. Favola — primary (person)
- Mark L. Keam — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2019-12-21** Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100618D `introduction`
- **2019-12-21** Referred to Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-17** Reported from Rehabilitation and Social Services with substitute (14-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-01-17** Committee substitute printed 20105842D-S1 `substitution`
- **2020-01-17** Rereferred to Finance and Appropriations `referral-committee`
- **2020-01-27** Impact statement from DPB (SB178S1)
- **2020-02-04** Reported from Finance and Appropriations (15-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-05** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-06** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-06** Reading of substitute waived
- **2020-02-06** Committee substitute agreed to 20105842D-S1
- **2020-02-06** Engrossed by Senate - committee substitute SB178S1
- **2020-02-06** Constitutional reading dispensed (40-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-06** Read third time and passed Senate (40-Y 0-N) `passage, reading-3`
- **2020-02-13** Placed on Calendar
- **2020-02-13** Read first time `reading-1`
- **2020-02-13** Referred to Committee on Health, Welfare and Institutions `referral-committee`
- **2020-02-18** Reported from Health, Welfare and Institutions (22-Y 0-N) `committee-passage`
- **2020-02-20** Read second time `reading-2`
- **2020-02-21** Read third time `reading-3`
- **2020-02-21** Passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N) `passage`
- **2020-02-21** VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N)
- **2020-02-25** Enrolled
- **2020-02-25** Impact statement from DPB (SB178ER)
- **2020-02-25** Signed by Speaker
- **2020-02-26** Signed by President
- **2020-03-03** Enrolled Bill Communicated to Governor on February 3, 2020
- **2020-03-03** Governor's Action Deadline 11:59 p.m., March 10, 2020
- **2020-03-10** Approved by Governor-Chapter 224 (effective 7/1/20) `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/80da4c72-761f-4df6-aef8-62ce0049ea49`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Virginia legislature records).