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Rimas Jasin, Executive Director of PSS, spoke of the need for continued government funding to support kinship families and kinship care at the Generations United international conference in Washington, D.C.
He shared the lessons learned since PSS partnered with the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing in 2005 to open the first apartment in the U.S. built specifically for grandparents raising grandchildren.
1. Kinship caregivers are everywhere and still have many of the same needs. The social and economic conditions behind kinship families haven’t changed that much.Thirty years ago it was the AIDS and crack epidemic. Today we have opioids, economic downturns and the yet to be determined impact of COVID. Kinship caregivers still need the same information, support, understanding and guidance.
2. Providing care is not easy! Many kinship family members have faced significant trauma, families uprooted, family members contending with intellectual and developmental disabilities, behavioral disorders, learning disabilities, and more. This means many require considerable support.
3. More government funding is needed to support kinship families. The bad news is that such funding is woefully inadequate. In New York State, more than 100,000 grandparents are responsible for raising their grandchildren. That’s the same population as the city of Albany, the capital of New York State. The irony is the state capital is where budget decisions are made and it seems each year we face an uphill battle trying to convince them to provide enough funding support for kinship care across the state.
"But I’m hopeful," he said, "because there are people like those of you here in this room, and the wonderful people here at Plaza West (which modeled its residence on the Grandparent Family Apartments) and Generations United. I’m confident we can continue to advocate and speak up on behalf of all the kinship families who just need a little bit of support to do what they need to do to keep families together."
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