119-hres771

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 771 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 771

Expressing support for the designation of September 2025 as ``National 
 Kinship Care Month''.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 September 26, 2025

Ms. Kamlager-Dove (for herself, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Moore of Wisconsin, Mr. 
 Nunn of Iowa, Ms. Scanlon, and Mrs. Houchin) submitted the following 
 resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

Expressing support for the designation of September 2025 as ``National 
 Kinship Care Month''.

Whereas, in September 2025, ``National Kinship Care Month'' is observed;
Whereas kinship care is the full-time care, nurturing, and protection of 
 children by grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, 
 stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who have a family relationship to 
 the over 2,500,000 children living in a kinship care arrangement;
Whereas death, incarceration, disability, parental substance use, military 
 deployment, and incarceration are a few reasons causing grandparents, 
 siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin 
 caregivers to step forward to raise children they did not expect nor 
 plan to raise;
Whereas over one-third (35 percent) of all children in out-of-home care in the 
 United States are placed with relatives without a parent in the home, 
 and there is considerable variation in that percentage across States, 
 ranging from a low of 10 percent to a high of 53 percent in kinship 
 care;
Whereas, nationally, more than 131,490 children in foster care are formally 
 placed in kinship foster care and more than 2,667,000 additional 
 children are supported by kin caregivers outside of the foster care 
 system in informal kinship arrangements;
Whereas, because there are approximately 18 children in informal kinship care 
 arrangements for every 1 child in formal foster kinship care, 
 grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or 
 fictive kin caregivers keep the foster care system from being 
 overwhelmed and save taxpayers more than $4,000,000,000 annually;
Whereas kinship families comprised of grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, 
 stepparents, or fictive kin are not provided the same level of 
 assistance and support as children placed in nonrelative or nonkin 
 foster care;
Whereas COVID-19 both heightened the challenges for existing kinship caregivers 
 and created new kinship caregivers due to parents dying or becoming 
 disabled due to the virus leaving behind children who have been taken in 
 by their kinship families;
Whereas Black children make up 14 percent of all children in the United States 
 but comprise over 25 percent of all children raised by grandparents and 
 23 percent of all children in foster care;
Whereas American Indian/Alaska Native children make up 1 percent of all children 
 in the United States but comprise over 8 percent of all children raised 
 by grandparents and 2 percent of all children in foster care;
Whereas kinship care enables children--

    (1) to maintain family relationships and family heritage;

    (2) to remain in their community; and

    (3) to thrive;

Whereas research shows that living with relatives and fictive kin benefits 
 children in a number of ways including--

    (1) kinship care minimizes trauma;

    (2) kinship placements improve behavioral and mental health outcomes;

    (3) kinship care promotes sibling and other family ties;

    (4) kinship families provide higher levels of permanency; and

    (5) kinship care reduces the risk of homelessness and criminal 
involvement by providing an important and emotionally sustaining bridge for 
older youth;

Whereas kinship caregivers report tremendous satisfaction in caring for and 
 raising children but face substantial challenges in accessing resources 
 they need to care for their families, to avoid living in poverty, and to 
 prevent children from entering foster care;
Whereas much remains to be done to ensure that all children have a safe, loving, 
 nurturing, and permanent family, regardless of age or special needs;
Whereas there are Federal child welfare laws recognizing kinship care, and more 
 than 40 States and the District of Columbia have over 300 laws related 
 to kinship caregiving, making it clear that kinship care is acknowledged 
 as the nationally accepted term for grandparents, siblings, members of 
 Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who are 
 successfully caring for and raising children;
Whereas over 40 States are implementing kinship navigator programs and services 
 that support grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, 
 stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers who are not foster parents;
Whereas the House of Representatives is proud to recognize the many kinship 
 families in which children are raised by grandparents, siblings, members 
 of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers;
Whereas the House of Representatives wishes to honor the many grandparents, 
 siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, and fictive kin 
 caregivers who throughout the history of the United States have provided 
 loving homes for children to thrive;
Whereas National Kinship Care Month provides an opportunity to urge people in 
 every State to join in recognizing and celebrating kinship families and 
 the tradition of grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, 
 stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers in the United States helping 
 raise children; and
Whereas States are increasingly relying on grandparents, siblings, members of 
 Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin caregivers as foster 
 parents, and are working to increase the percentages of children in 
 supported kinship foster families: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

    (1) supports the designation of ``National Kinship Care 
 Month'';

    (2) encourages the Congress to enact policies to improve 
 the lives of vulnerable children by supporting kinship families 
 in the best interests of such children;

    (3) honors the commitment and dedication of kinship 
 caregivers and the advocates and allies who work tirelessly to 
 provide assistance and services to kinship-caregiving families; 
 and

    (4) reaffirms the need to continue working to improve the 
 outcomes of all vulnerable children through parts B and E of 
 title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) and 
 other programs designed--
        (A) to support vulnerable families;
        (B) to invest in prevention and reunification 
 services; and
            (C) to ensure that grandparents, siblings, members 
 of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin 
 caregivers who take on the role of kinship caregivers 
 receive the necessary supports, including but not 
 limited to Kinship Navigator programs.
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