[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 144 (Thursday, September 11, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1774]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   HONORING NATIONAL GRANDPARENTS DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 11, 2008

  Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Madam Speaker, we celebrate National 
Grandparents Day on the first Sunday after Labor Day every September. 
In honor of the 2008 National Grandparents Day, I wish to recognize the 
contribution of the millions of grandparent caregivers who raise their 
young relatives. In the United States, more than four and one half 
million grandparents are raising over six million children. These 
grandparents have embraced the role of full-time caregivers--juggling 
car seats, monitoring homework, and stretching fixed-incomes--to 
protect young children whose parents cannot provide them safe, 
permanent homes. This is not the vision of retirement that most of us 
hold, but it is a reality for millions of Americans.
  In Illinois, approximately 80,000 grandparents head households that 
include young children. Indeed, my Congressional District has the 
highest percentage of children living with kinship caregivers in the 
Nation, followed by the First District of Illinois with the second 
highest percentage and the Second District with the tenth highest 
percentage in the nation. I know the sacrifice and dedication of these 
grandparents. I know the lengths they go to identify the resources and 
obtain supports for these youth, foregoing their own needs to provide 
for their grandchildren.
  I am pleased that Congress is advancing legislation to support these 
grandparent caregivers. In June, the House of Representatives passed 
H.R. 6307, the Fostering Connections to Success Act. This bill includes 
important provisions that I have championed for 4 years that will 
support kinship caregivers. Specifically, the bill includes the three 
core elements of my bill, H.R. 2188, the Kinship Caregiver Support Act, 
which I introduced with Representative Tim Johnson: It allows states to 
use Federal funds to support family caregivers' raising relatives who 
were in the foster care system; it provides funding to establish 
kinship navigator programs; and it requires notification of relatives 
when a child enters the foster care system. The Senate Committee on 
Finance is advancing related legislation this week. It is important 
that Congress acts quickly to support grandparent-headed families. 
Research clearly shows that kinship foster care families are safer, 
more stable placements that are more likely to keep children connected 
with their siblings and communities than non-relative placements. 
Further, these placements are cost effective. In Illinois, cost studies 
found a projected savings of approximately $48 million over 10 years. 
We know that millions of grandparents care for grandchildren who never 
entered the foster care system, and we need to include supports--such 
as kinship navigator programs--to help these families identify and 
access services as well.
  National Grandparents Day reminds us to care for our seniors. It is a 
fact of nature that all of us will turn grayer. I hope that Congress 
will succeed in implementing key supports for kinship caregivers who 
have done so much to protect and care for some of our most vulnerable 
citizens.

                          ____________________