Press Releases

Washington, D.C. The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) today praised Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) for introducing the "Kinship Caregiver Support Act." The bipartisan bill would provide critical support to many of the approximately 2.5 million grandparents and other relatives who have stepped in to raise children when the children's parents were unable to do so. CDF applauds the leadership of Senators Clinton and Snowe, the bill's chief sponsors, who recognize the sacrifice and challenges that these families face. The Kinship Caregiver Support Act attempts to solve a variety of problems for these families by:

• Establishing a Kinship Navigator Program to connect families to an entire range of support services and resources to help them meet the needs of the children in their care;

• Establishing a Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program to provide federal assistance to states for subsidized guardianship programs; and

• Requiring states to notify grandparents and other relatives when children enter foster care to help increase the possibility that children can be cared for by kin.

"Senators Clinton and Snowe have been tireless advocates for children and the millions of grandparents and other relatives caring for children, many of whom find themselves parenting for the second time around," said MaryLee Allen, CDF's Director of Child Welfare and Mental Health. "These caregivers are being selfless in meeting this obligation and, thanks to the provisions contained in the Kinship Caregivers Support Act, will get the important governmental support to clear some of the legal and financial hurdles that they endure on a daily basis. Children need a stable home environment and kinship caregivers are often the last line of defense for a child who would otherwise have to enter or stay in the foster care system due to their own parents' temporary or permanent inability to care for them. We urge Congress to pass this bill as soon as possible."

The Kinship Navigator Program links caregivers to support groups, respite care programs, and special services for incarcerated parents and also to information about education, family support services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, child support, housing assistance, child care, and legal assistance, as well as a whole range of federal benefits like Medicaid, TANF and others. It helps kinship care families (both outside of and within the child welfare system) navigate these services and also promotes partnerships among agencies to help them more effectively and efficiently serve kinship care families.

The Kinship Guardianship Assistance program assists some of the grandparents and other relatives caring for children in foster care who want to get legal guardianship and commit to care for the children permanently. States would have the option of using federal funds to help provide subsidized guardianship payments to these caregivers on behalf of the children they are raising.

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More Information:

• State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.