September named Kinship Care Month

The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners has proclaimed September as National Kinship Care Month. 

The proclamation reads:

WHEREAS, the abuse and neglect of children in our nation and our community is an ongoing problem, with nearly 20,000 abused and neglected children receiving services from Hamilton County Job and Family Services in 2018; and

WHEREAS, some of those abused and neglected children are unable to remain safe in their homes and need temporary placement outside of their homes; and

WHEREAS, Hamilton County Job and Family Services, much like the rest of the nation’s children’s services organizations, prefers to keep displaced children connected to their families through temporary placement with grandparents, aunts, uncles and other kin; and

WHEREAS, the number of grandparents and other kinship caregivers who are raising grandchildren and other relative children is a growing number, with the U.S. Census estimating 4.9 million children (7 percent of children in the nation) live in grandparent-headed households in the United States, and that 1.9 million children (2.5 percent of all children in the nation) are living in households headed by other relatives; and

WHEREAS, in Ohio, more than 200,000 children under the age of 18 live in homes headed by grandparents or other relatives, accounting for 8.9 percent of all children in the state; and

WHEREAS, Hamilton County Job and Family Services currently provides stipends to 316 kinship families who are caring for 509 children through the agency’s new Kinship Stipend Program; and

WHEREAS, many more Hamilton County households are headed by grandparents or other relatives who are informally caring for children under the age of 18; and

 WHEREAS, these kinship caregivers are vitally important to the health, safety and well-being of these children, as well as key partners with Hamilton County Job and Family Services; and

 WHEREAS, the month of September has been designated nationally as Kinship Care Month; and

 WHEREAS, the Hamilton County Board of County Commissioners admires, supports and thanks  all grandparents, other relatives and family friends who take on the added responsibility of raising our community’s children; 

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT PROCLAIMED that the Board of County Commissioners, Hamilton County, Ohio, does hereby recognize the month of September 2019 as

“Kinship Care Month” in all of Hamilton County

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO

by Ashley Woods

Filed Under: Featured, News

Tagged: adoption, Family, fatherhood, foster care, foster child, foster children, foster parents, foster youth, hamilton county job and family services, kinship, kinship care, moira weir