From Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children (http://www.papartnerships.org):
Thanks to the work of dedicated legislators and advocacy groups, HB 2133 (Watson), tasking the PA Department of Human Services (DHS) to establish a Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program, has been signed by the governor and is now Act 89 of 2018. DHS has already put out its Request for Applications for an agency to begin a navigator program, and last week announced more than $479,000 in federal funds will be available to aid in that effort. The Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program will provide grandparents and other kin who are not known to the child welfare system with guidance and information about services and supports available to help raise the child or children in their care. This includes establishing a website with resources available to kinship caregivers, creating a 24/7 toll-free hotline to help offer guidance, training of kinship caregiver navigators staffing the hotline, and developing a statewide marketing campaign to educate the public about the services and supports available to kinship caregivers.
Research shows that the Kinship Caregiver Navigator Program will help prevent the need for foster care, while strengthening family bonds and ensuring continuing relationships with a child’s immediate biological family. Foster care is costly (nearly $25,000 per year for one placement), and this program is a wise investment of state resources which will likely save the commonwealth money by reducing the need for additional foster care placements. In 2017, the number one reason children were removed from their homes by county Children & Youth agencies was parental substance abuse, and today there are 76,000 grandparents caring for nearly 84,000 grandchildren in Pennsylvania.
HB 1539 (Paskinski) was also signed into law, establishing temporary guardianship for kin caregivers, becoming Act 88 of 2018.
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