PRINTER'S NO. 208
No. 171 Session of 2007
INTRODUCED BY MUSTO, MELLOW, ORIE, BOSCOLA, FONTANA, KASUNIC,
COSTA, KITCHEN, ERICKSON, RAFFERTY, STOUT, O'PAKE, LAVALLE,
GREENLEAF, TARTAGLIONE, WASHINGTON, STACK, RHOADES, LOGAN AND
BAKER, MARCH 6, 2007
REFERRED TO AGING AND YOUTH, MARCH 6, 2007
AN ACT
1 Establishing the Grandparent Caregiver Support Program.
2 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
3 hereby enacts as follows:
4 Section 1. Short title.
5 This act shall be known and may be cited as the Grandparent
6 Caregiver Support Program Act.
7 Section 2. Definitions.
8 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
9 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
10 context clearly indicated otherwise:
11 "Child." A person who is 18 years of age or younger and is
12 not an emancipated minor.
13 "Department." The Department of Aging of the Commonwealth.
14 "Grandparent or older adult relative caregiver." A
15 grandparent or step-grandparent of a child or a relative of a
16 child by blood or marriage who meets all of the following:
1 (1) Is 50 years of age or older.
2 (2) Lives with the child.
3 (3) Provides primary care for the child because the
4 biological or adoptive parents are unwilling or unable to
5 serve as the primary caregiver of the child.
6 (4) Is the legal guardian or is raising the child
7 informally.
8 Section 3. Legislative intent.
9 The General Assembly finds and declares as follows:
10 (1) There is a growing population of children who are
11 being abandoned by their parents and are being raised by
12 grandparents or older adult relative caregivers.
13 (2) This reversal in roles has created a population of
14 grandparents who are unprepared for the demands of caring for
15 a minor child.
16 (3) It is the intent of the General Assembly to provide
17 a program to provide grandparents and older adult caregivers
18 of minor children the information and tools that they need to
19 care for the child in their custody.
20 Section 4. Establishment.
21 The department shall establish a Grandparent Caregiver
22 Support Program to serve as a resource for grandparents or older
23 adult caregivers to provide all of the following:
24 (1) Technical assistance and training for grandparent
25 and older adult relative caregivers support groups.
26 (2) Information and referral for grandparents and other
27 older adult relative caregivers.
28 (3) Assistance to grandparents and other older adult
29 relative caregivers in gaining access to available services,
30 including legal assistance, medical assistance, guidance for
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1 educational concerns and any other form of services that
2 might be necessary.
3 (4) Counseling to grandparents and other older adult
4 relative caregivers in making decisions and solving problems
5 relating to their role of caregiver to a child.
6 (5) The publication and dissemination of printed
7 material related to services available to grandparents and
8 other older adult relative caregivers.
9 Section 20. Regulations.
10 The department shall promulgate regulations necessary to
11 implement the provisions of this act.
12 Section 21. Effective date.
13 This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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