Washington, DC – Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomed approval by the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee of the Fiscal Year 2007 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Bill, which includes $250,000 that the Senator secured, for the Catholic Family Center’s (CFC) Kinship Care Resource Network.

The bill will proceed to the Senate floor for consideration following Full Appropriations Committee approval this afternoon. Following consideration and passage on the Senate floor, the bill will head into a Conference Committee where the House and Senate will resolve the differences between their two bills. Following conference, the bill will again be sent to the House and Senate for final approval, after which it will be sent to the President for his signature.

“Every day, more and more grandparents and relatives are assuming responsibility for the care of grandchildren and many of them are making great personal sacrifices to provide safe and loving homes for those in their care. Kinship caregivers need special support to succeed and with the right assistance, like the services provided thought the Kinship Care Resource Network, they can,” Senator Clinton said. “CFC’s Kinship Care Resource Network is already a vital resource for seniors throughout the region who are caring for grandchildren or other relatives. This funding will help CFC continue to provide a range of information, support, counseling and education services to these kinship caregivers who have stepped forward to provide loving homes for others.”

This funding will be used to continue serving kinship care families through the six -agency partnership CFC has created to provide a continuum of services for caregivers who are raising another relative’s child. Services that are provided include: case management; support groups, both educational and therapeutic; self-esteem building workshops for the children; educational workshops for both children and caregivers; counseling; and legal consultation and assistance.

Senator Clinton has long fought to support grandparents and other relatives raising children. Senator Clinton is the author of the Kinship Caregiver Support Act, which would provide families with the guidance they need to learn how to obtain health care coverage for the children in their care, apply for housing assistance, locate childcare, enroll children in school, and gain access to other services. It would also provide a system of subsidized guardianship to make it possible for grandparents and other relatives to care for children who would otherwise be in foster care. Senator Clinton was also a co-sponsor of the Legacy Act, which became law in 2003.

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