Kinship Care Bill
...physiologically and emotionally. They may lash out in words or behaviors, then become despondent and hopeless, and finally, detach themselves emotionally to cope with their significant loss. Their healthy development and ability to adjust normally to losses throughout life may be compromised. When relatives are available to provide a support network, the blow is softened. Familiar faces and surroundings they know and trust will comfort them. Relatives provide homes for the vast majority of kids whose parents can no longer care for them, caring for some 2.5 million children and saving taxpayers an estimated $6.5 billion a year in child welfare costs (Vestal, C. 2006). Kinship care is the full time care, nurturing and protection of children by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, godparents, stepparents, or any adult who has a kinship bond with a child (Children's Defense Fund, 2000). Officials say that without kin to provide care, the soaring number of children left behind by parents suffering from drug addictions, domestic violence, incarcerations, AIDS and military duty would choke already-clogged child welfare systems. Despite the value of children remaining with their extended families, there are many reasons why relatives may be unwilling to take on the responsibility of a child. Some just cannot afford another mouth to feed and financial assistance varies from state to state. Many children in kinship foster care may not be receiving the services they need. Senate bill number 585 (sb585), is a bill introduced to amend the Code of Virginia relating to kinship care, proposing that all children who are placed in kinship care and their care givers would have access to all foster care services, regardless of licensing. If foster care services were more readily available to children in the care of kin, hardships would be significantly reduced.
In the...
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