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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=24814
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: November 9, 2017 12:13 PM
From: Representative Eddie Day Pashinski
To: All House members
Subject: Kinship Caregiver Day
 
In the near future, I plan to introduce a resolution designating November 20, 2017, as “Kinship Caregiver Day” in Pennsylvania.

The opioid epidemic is the latest crisis to threaten Pennsylvania’s families. Approximately one-third of children entering the foster care system today do so because of drug addicted parents. When parents are unable to care for their children, be it due to addiction, financial instability, incarceration, illness, or death, family members will often step up. The grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, cousins, and other extended family members that raise these children are known as kinship caregivers.

There are more than 100,000 children in Pennsylvania that live with a relative with no parent present. Sometimes child welfare services become involved, but these are often informal arrangements. Kinship caregivers are generally older and poorer than the population as a whole and are often called into service unexpectedly. Kinship placement can provide a stable environment for children, potentially keeping them out of the foster care system and within their own communities. Although the foster care system has done excellent work to fill what previously was a void in our society, studies have shown that when possible, children do better being raised by their family members.

Please join me in co-sponsoring this resolution recognizing the importance and commitment of kinship caregivers in Pennsylvania.



Introduced as HR618