Kinship Caregivers in D.C. Say Child Welfare Agency Owes Foster Payments

Three years ago, a Washington, D.C., woman received a distressed call with an urgent request: Her sister was being admitted to a psychiatric hospital and needed help caring for her then-5-year-old daughter. Could she take her in?

Facing financial insecurity herself, the woman — who asked to be identified by her initials due to the sensitive nature of her case — nevertheless wanted to help her sister. But K.H. was quickly overwhelmed by the challenges of a child with significant emotional needs who arrived from a struggling, unstable home.

https://imprintnews.org/top-stories/kinship-caregivers-in-d-c-say-child-welfare-agency-owes-foster-payments/59410?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Big shift in NJ foster care — 70% of kids placed with ‘kin’

When kids in New Jersey need to be taken from their homes due to unfortunate circumstances such as abuse and neglect, their next stop isn’t what most people may think of as a traditional foster home.

There’s been a big push in the Garden State to connect these kids with a relative, family friend or close contact, because statistics suggest these types of connections make a big difference in outcomes for the impacted children.

https://nj1015.com/big-shift-in-nj-foster-care-70-of-kids-placed-with-kin-within-a-month/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

BLOG: Kinship Care and New Jersey’s Revised Kinship Legal Guardianship Act

Kinship care – placing children with relatives rather than non-relative foster parents – is associated with significant benefits for children and youth, including improved mental and behavioral health. Specifically, kinship care may help mitigate the trauma of removal when children are placed with relative caregivers who they know and with whom they share a relationship. As a result, children and youth in kinship care are less likely to experience behavioral challenges compared to children and youth in other placement settings.

BLOG: Kinship Care and New Jersey’s Revised Kinship Legal Guardianship Act

Bill reintroduced in U.S. House to support grandparents raising grandchildren

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WWLP) – U.S. House of Representatives Rules Committee Chairman James P. McGovern (MA-02) and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) reintroduced the Grandfamily Housing Act, a bill to create a new, nationwide pilot program to provide funding to help grandparents raising their grandchildren access safe, affordable and appropriate housing.

The Grandfamily Housing Act builds on many of the concerns that McGovern and Pressley heard at a meeting on the issue held in Worcester in 2019. Grandparents discussed challenges faced when raising grandchildren, including finances, access to school and medical records, and adequate housing.
https://www.wwlp.com/news/political-news/bill-reintroduced-in-u-s-house-to-support-grandparents-raising-grandchildren/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery

Coronavirus Relief Bill Includes $10 Million for Kinship Care Center

All but unnoticed in news coverage of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed on Thursday is $10 million to start up a technical assistance center to help relative caregivers who step up to fill in for parents whose children have been taken away from them.

While $10 million is a tiny fraction of the massive spending bill, it marks the culmination of a 20-year effort by the nonprofit Generations United to get the government to provide comprehensive services and supports to grandparents who in many cases never anticipated having to spend their limited time, money and energy raising their children’s children.
https://imprintnews.org/youth-services-insider/coronavirus-relief-bill-includes-10-million-kinship-care-center/52677

Helping grandfamilies: Hassan, Collins say a bill is needed for ‘kinship caregivers’

WASHINGTON – U.S. Sens. Maggie Hassan, D-NH, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced they have reintroduced the Help Grandfamilies Prevent Child Abuse Act to support kinship caregivers.

These caregivers are mostly grandparents who have taken over as primary caregivers for children exposed to substance misuse or other trauma.

https://www.seacoastonline.com/story/news/state/2021/04/21/nh-hassan-collins-grandparents-bill-for-kinship-caregivers-prevent-child-abuse/7310081002/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery