Kinship Care Month Policy & Advocacy Update

4 min readSep 21, 2023

National Kinship Care Month & Grandparents Day

September celebrates National Kinship Care Month and Grandparents Day (Sunday, September 10). Earlier this month, President Biden released his Proclamation on National Grandparents Day, recognizing the invaluable contributions of grandparents in nurturing the next generation.

Generations United celebrates the vital role kinship caregivers and grandparents play in the lives of their families and communities. Read President Biden’s Proclamation on National Grandparents Day, 2023.

Take Action!

Peer-to-Peer Supports

Generations United, along with Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, FosterClub, ZERO TO THREE, and other partnering organizations, are leading a group of kinship caregivers, parents, and youth advocates in raising awareness about the value of peer-to-peer supports and developing legislative proposals to provide federal support for more peer-to-peer approaches and programs.

To build momentum on a national level, we’re asking individuals (like yourself!) to share their experiences with peer-to-peer support programs in order to show our leaders the positive difference that peer supports make in their communities. Have you or someone you love benefited from peer support? Tell us about your Peer Support experience!

Ensure Kinship Navigator Programs are Funded at $20 million for FY 2024

Kinship Navigator Programs help connect families where grandparents and other relatives are raising children to critical supports and services to help the children thrive and prevent their unnecessary entry into foster care. In 2018, Congress began appropriating $20 million annually to help states develop, enhance, operate, and evaluate these programs.

As Congress is working on appropriations funding levels for FY 2024, you can take action to ensure that Kinship Navigator Programs are adequately funded for the next fiscal year. Call your Senators & ask them to support $20 million to support Kinship Navigator Programs!

Kinship Unity Action Agenda

Earlier this year, Generations United hosted a National Kinship Unity Convening, co-hosted with Think of Us and ABA Center on Children and the Law, with a group of national policy advocates with lived and professional expertise in kinship care. The goal of the convening was to identify and prioritize key policy opportunities and begin the process of building and engaging other critical stakeholders in a strong and actionable national policy agenda. In the next phase of the process, Generations United is reaching out to additional policy advocates, lived experts in kinship care, practitioners, and others for feedback on the draft Kinship Unity Action Agenda and to gather interest in participating in working groups to further develop our collective policy priorities and work together to better support grandfamilies.

Generations United values your perspective and invites you to review the draft Kinship Unity Action Agenda. If you would like to submit feedback or be a part of the working group(s) to further develop our collective action priorities, please contact Chelsi Rhoades, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, at crhoades@gu.org. We welcome both individual and/or collective feedback from a group.

Updates from Capitol Hill

Appropriations/Continuing Resolution

The current funding for the Federal government is set to expire on September 30th when the current fiscal year ends. In order to prevent a government shutdown, Congress is currently considering a short-term continuing resolution (CR) through early December. In addition to the CR, which would keep the government running near current funding levels, Biden Administration has requested Congress provide emergency increases in funding levels for some programs to maintain current services. Emergency funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was included in this request, which has the potential to have a significant impact on grandfamilies/kinship families if not sufficiently funded. If a short-term CR is passed, Congress then must continue to work to reach a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on all FY 2024 appropriations bills before the continuing resolution expires.

Title IV-B Reauthorization

Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (Title IV-B) provides flexible funding to support families, including support for grandfamilies/kinship families, prevention of maltreatment, and helping reunify families separated by the child welfare system. Without reauthorization or an extension, Title IV-B will expire September 30, 2023.

Generations United, along with our partners, are currently working to educate Members of Congress on the importance of Title IV-B funding and advocate for a strong reauthorization with provisions to better support grandfamilies/kinship families. Check out our shared priorities.

Older Americans Act Reauthorization

The Older Americans Act (OAA) provides grants to states to develop and improve community services and programs to help older adults live healthy and independent lives. The OAA includes many intergenerational opportunities through its authorized programs such as the National Caregiver Support Program, Nutrition Programs, and the Grant Program for Multigenerational Collaboration. Generations United advocates for appropriations funding for this grant program and supports continuing to expand upon the intergenerational opportunities within the OAA. The Older Americans Act is up for reauthorization in 2024.

As Congress is preparing for OAA reauthorization, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) released a Notice for Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) with proposed updates to the regulations for OAA programs and services. Generations United submitted comments to affirm current intergenerational language in the regulations and to encourage ACL to expand intergenerational approaches in the Act, as well as promote and encourage OAA services for grandfamily/kinship caregivers.

Learn more about the intergenerational opportunities included in the Older Americans Act.

Generations United publishes policy and advocacy updates to share intergenerational policy news and ways to take action. For more information on our policy priorities visit https://www.gu.org/resources/public-policy-priorities-for-the-118th-congress/. Subscribe to Generations United on Medium for notifications when new blogs are posted.