05/23/2012 // West Palm Beach, Florida, US // justicenews // Justice News Flash // (press release)

New York – A recent report suggests the amount of support provided by governments for kinship caregivers is lacking. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the Annie E. Casey Foundation report released Wednesday, “Stepping Up For Kids,” found extended-family caregivers often face various challenges in caring for children that policymakers should consider addressing to provide them with better access to the resources they need.

Casey Foundation president, Patrick McCarthy, is quoted by the AP as stating of the issue, “We urge state policymakers to make crucial benefits and resources available to kinship families so that their children can thrive.”

An estimated 2.7 million children are being cared for by relatives without significant parental involvement. As noted in the report programs such as the Fostering Connections Act of 2008 make aid for care available to caregivers in these circumstances; however, many are unaware of their options in accessing support with varying state allocation methods for supplying funds.

Donna Butts of the Generations United advocacy group is further quoted in the report as stating of kinship caregivers who save billions of dollars annually for U.S. tax payers, “We shouldn’t then just leave them alone…They need information, they need support, they need respite. Both the children and the caregivers need help.”

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