[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1384 Introduced in House (IH)]
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117th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1384
Expressing support for the designation of September 2022 as ``National
Kinship Care Month''.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 22, 2022
Ms. Bass (for herself, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Mullin, Mrs. Lawrence, Mr.
Langevin, Ms. Dean, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. Norton, Mr. Pappas, Mr. Danny K.
Davis of Illinois, Mr. Carson, Mr. Carbajal, Ms. Sewell, and Mr.
Grijalva) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing support for the designation of September 2022 as ``National
Kinship Care Month''.
Whereas, in September 2022, ``National Kinship Care Month'' is observed;
Whereas kinship care is the full-time care, nurturing, and protection of
children by grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents,
stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who have a family relationship to
the over 2,800,000 children living in a kinship care arrangement;
Whereas death, incarceration, disability, parental substance use, military
deployment, and incarceration are a few reasons causing grandparents,
siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin
caregivers to step forward to raise children they did not expect nor
plan to raise;
Whereas nearly one-third (31 percent) of all children in out-of-home care in the
United States are placed with relatives without a parent in the home,
and there is considerable variation in that percentage across States,
ranging from a low of 5 percent to a high of 46 percent in kinship care;
Whereas, nationally, more than 133,405 children in foster care are formally
placed in kinship foster care and more than 2,667,000 additional
children are supported by kin caregivers outside of the foster care
system in informal kinship arrangements;
Whereas because there are approximately 20 children in informal kinship care
arrangements for every 1 child in formal foster kinship care,
grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or
fictive kin caregivers keep the foster care system from being
overwhelmed and save taxpayers more than $4,000,000,000 annually;
Whereas kinship families comprised of grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes,
stepparents, or fictive kin are not provided the same level of
assistance and support as children placed in nonrelative or nonkin
foster care;
Whereas COVID-19 both heightened the challenges for existing kinship caregivers
and created new kinship caregivers due to parents dying or becoming
disabled due to the virus leaving behind children who have been taken in
by their kinship families;
Whereas Black children make up 14 percent of all children in the United States
but comprise over 25 percent of all children raised by grandparents and
23 percent of all children in foster care;
Whereas American Indian/Alaska Native children make up 1 percent of all children
in the United States but comprise over 8 percent of all children raised
by grandparents and 2 percent of all children in foster care;
Whereas kinship care enables children--
(1) to maintain family relationships and family heritage;
(2) to remain in their community; and
(3) to thrive;
Whereas research shows that living with relatives and fictive kin benefits
children in a number of ways including--
(1) kinship care minimizes trauma;
(2) kinship placements improve behavioral and mental health outcomes;
(3) kinship care promotes sibling and other family ties;
(4) kinship families provide higher levels of permanency; and
(5) kinship care reduces the risk of homelessness and criminal
involvement by providing an important and emotionally sustaining bridge for
older youth;
Whereas kinship caregivers report tremendous satisfaction in caring for and
raising children but face substantial challenges in accessing resources
they need to care for their families, to avoid living in poverty, and to
prevent children from entering foster care;
Whereas much remains to be done to ensure that all children have a safe, loving,
nurturing, and permanent family, regardless of age or special needs;
Whereas there are Federal child welfare laws recognizing kinship care, and more
than 40 States and the District of Columbia have over 300 laws related
to kinship caregiving, making it clear that kinship care is acknowledged
as the nationally accepted term for grandparents, siblings, members of
Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who are
successfully caring for and raising children;
Whereas over 40 States are implementing kinship navigator programs and services
that support grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents,
stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who are not foster parents;
Whereas the House of Representatives is proud to recognize the many kinship
families in which children are raised by grandparents, siblings, members
of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers;
Whereas the House of Representatives wishes to honor the many grandparents,
siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, and fictive kin
caregivers who throughout the history of the United States have provided
loving homes for children to thrive;
Whereas National Kinship Care Month provides an opportunity to urge people in
every State to join in recognizing and celebrating kinship families and
the tradition of grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents,
stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers in the United States helping
raise children; and
Whereas States are increasingly relying on grandparents, siblings, members of
Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers as foster
parents, and are working to increase the percentages of children in
supported kinship foster families: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) supports the designation of ``National Kinship Care
Month'';
(2) encourages the Congress to enact policies to improve
the lives of vulnerable children by supporting kinship families
in the best interests of such children;
(3) honors the commitment and dedication of kinship
caregivers and the advocates and allies who work tirelessly to
provide assistance and services to kinship-caregiving families;
and
(4) reaffirms the need to continue working to improve the
outcomes of all vulnerable children through parts B and E of
title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and
other programs designed--
(A) to support vulnerable families;
(B) to invest in prevention and reunification
services; and
(C) to ensure that grandparents, siblings, members
of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin
caregivers who take on the role of kinship caregivers
receive the necessary supports, including but not
limited to Kinship Navigator programs.
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