WHEREAS, Senate Bill 167 would aid citizens of the Commonwealth who have taken on the added responsibility of raising grandchildren or other children whose own parents are no longer willing or able to care for them; and
WHEREAS, Senate Bill 171 would also aid grandparents or other relative caregivers whose parents are unwilling or unable to serve a primary caregiver for the child; and
WHEREAS, According to the 2000 Census, there are over 64,000 children not residing with a parent in the city of Philadelphia alone; and
WHEREAS, Older caregivers, such as grandparents, face numerous emotional, physical, and financial challenges and are often unprepared to assume responsibility for raising relative children; and
WHEREAS, The lack of access to resources such as medical assistance, legal assistance and guidance regarding educational matters available to older relative caregivers undermine their ability to provide a child a stable, healthy and prosperous environment; and
WHEREAS, State funding for intergenerational housing units would provide older relative caregivers with the financial means to care for and nurture the children in their care, as well as improve the living conditions of many children; and
WHEREAS, Day-care subsidies for heads of house-hold who are employed outside the home allow children to remain safe when the relative caregiver is unavailable; and
WHEREAS, Education of Commonwealth employees and publication of printed material regarding the services and benefits available to relative caregivers, including affordable housing, legal assistance and medical assistance will increase the ability of intergenerational families to access services and stable, affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, Case management service and technical assistance for support groups for relative caregivers are currently scarce and not centralized or focused solely on the need for intergenerational family stability; and
WHEREAS, Training of Commonwealth employees in the area of child custody law will assist relative caregivers by directing them to make secure legal arrangements for the children in their care; and
WHEREAS, Relative caregivers save the Commonwealth millions of dollars annually that would have been spent caring for the relative children had they been receiving adequate services; and
WHEREAS, Families raise children, not governmental agencies, and children raised by relative caregivers are far more successful than children raised in foster care; now therefore
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That Council urges the members of the General Assembly to enact Senate Bill Nos. 167 and 171 and commends State Senator Anthony Williams and Senator Rafael Musto and all of the Senators who have co-sponsored these bills and taken a leadership role in this matter.
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