Expressing support for the designation of September 2025 as "National Kinship Care Month".
This is a House resolution (H. Res. 771) expressing support for designating September 2025 as “National Kinship Care Month.” It recognizes the important role of kinship caregivers—grandparents, siblings, members of Tribes, godparents, stepparents, or fictive kin who are family or family-like connections caring for children—and cites statistics about the scale and impact of kinship care in the United States. The resolution states the House’s support for policy actions to strengthen kinship caregiving, honors caregivers and advocates, and reaffirms the goal of improving outcomes for vulnerable children through existing federal programs, including title IV-B and title IV-E of the Social Security Act and Kinship Navigator services. It is a symbolic, non-binding expression of sentiment and a statement of policy preferences rather than new law or mandatory funding.
Key Points
- 1The measure designates September 2025 as “National Kinship Care Month” and calls on the Congress to recognize and celebrate kinship caregiving.
- 2It emphasizes that kinship care involves relatives or kin-like caregivers who provide full-time care, nurturing, and protection for millions of children, citing both formal foster placements and informal kinship arrangements.
- 3The resolution highlights the benefits of kinship care for children (stability, connection to family and community, better behavioral and mental health outcomes) and notes substantial cost savings to taxpayers by reducing dependence on the formal foster system.
- 4It points to existing federal and state activity—recognition in federal child welfare laws, hundreds of kinship-related state laws, and kinship navigator programs—and urges continued policy efforts to support kinship families.
- 5It honors kinship caregivers and advocates and reiterates the need to improve outcomes for vulnerable children through federal programs, including but not limited to parts B and E of Title IV of the Social Security Act and related supports.