February 24, 2004
Senator Clinton Announces “Kinship Care” Bill

Legislation Will Help the Growing Number
of Grandparents who are Raising Children

Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY) today announced that she will file legislation to provide assistance to the growing number of American families in which children are being raised by their grandparents or relatives other than their parents. Although the trend has gotten little notice, the Census Bureau reports that 1 in 12 children in this country are growing up in this kind of household.
In a keynote address to the Child Welfare League of America, Senator Clinton praised the Grandparents and other relatives who take on this challenge despite facing poverty and other burdens. "Grandparents and other relatives have stepped forward, often at great personal sacrifice, to provide safe and loving homes for the children in their care. But kinship families, especially those without formal legal custody of the children under their care, face a number of unnecessary barriers," Senator Clinton said.

Senator Clinton's legislation will provide these families with the guidance they need to learn how to obtain health care coverage for them, apply for housing assistance, locate childcare, enroll them in school, and gain access to other services. It will also make it possible for grandparents and other relatives to care for children who would otherwise have entered the foster care system. "Right now, it is often easier for an abused and neglected child to live in a stranger's house in foster care than with a relative," said Senator Clinton. "Too often, grandparents and other relatives want to intervene, but cannot afford to do so. In other instances, these individuals reluctantly raise the children in foster care so that they can receive compensation to cover a fraction of their expenses. My legislation will allow these relatives to become formal guardians of these children while still receiving a little financial help."

Finally, Senator Clinton's legislation proposes to create a "Grandchild Care Tax Credit" to help grandparents who provide primary child for their grandchildren. This credit is designed to assist families with working parents who cannot afford childcare and turn to their parents for help. "Grandparents who provide grandchild care receive no pay and incur significant costs. Providing them with a $500 tax credit will go a long way toward helping working families," the Senator said.

SENATOR HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON
THE KINSHIP CAREGIVER SUPPORT ACT
FEBRUARY 24, 2003

Nationwide, more than 6 million children— 1 in 12—are living in households headed by grandparents or other relatives. New York alone has over 409,000 children living in such households. While extended families have always stepped in to raise children when parents could not, over the past two decades there has been a significant rise in the number of children living with grandparents and other relatives: The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) estimated an increase 30% between 1990 and 2000.

Parents are unable to raise their own children for a number of reasons, including mental disabilities, substance abuse problems, death, incarceration, and serious illness. Kinship caregivers, especially those without formal legal custody of their children, face a number of unnecessary barriers, such as difficulties authorizing medical treatment, maintaining their public housing leases, enrolling children in school and accessing state and federal benefits and services. Many other kinship caregivers need emotional support and parenting advice to help them through the uncharted water of raising children.

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The Kinship Caregiver Support Act will:
1. Establish a "Kinship Navigator" program to link kinship caregivers with the support and services they need. This title will provide grant to state and localities to establish toll-free hotlines, websites and resource guides on locally based parenting support available to kinship families, including critical information about how to enroll children in school, how to obtain Medicaid and other healthcare, how to safeguard their homes for small children, how to apply for housing assistance, how to obtain legal services, and how to find childcare.

2. Create a subsidized guardianship option within the federal foster care system (Title IV-E of the Social Security Act). This title will make it possible for kinship caregivers to provide care in a formal arrangement through the foster care system. Families in subsidized guardianship arrangements will retain legal status of the children in their care without forgoing the foster care maintenance payments that offset the significant costs associated with raising children.

3. Create a $500 refundable Grandchild Care Tax Credit. Grandparents who are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren are currently not eligible to receive any tax relief for the important work they perform. And because parents increasingly lack access to high-quality, affordable childcare, they are relying more heavily on their parents who give them peace of mind and their children unconditional love. Twenty-five percent of working mothers age 19-26 utilize a grandparent as their primary child care provider. This provision would create a $500 refundable tax credit for any grandparent who is the primary caregiver of their grandchild.
This proposal is supported by the Child Welfare League of America, the Children's Defense Fund, and Generation's United.