SRES-323-116
Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S5633; text: CR S5631-5632)
Sponsored by Ron Wyden (D-OR)
What it does
This resolution designates September 2019 as "National Kinship Care Month." It recognizes the approximately 2.7 million children living in kinship care arrangements — with grandparents, other relatives, or family friends — and honors the caregivers who provide for them. The resolution encourages Congress, state and local governments, and community organizations to continue supporting kinship caregiving families.
Who benefits
Kinship caregivers (grandparents, relatives, and family friends raising children) receive symbolic federal recognition. Advocacy organizations focused on kinship care and foster care may benefit from increased public awareness. Children in kinship care arrangements, numbering approximately 2.7 million, are honored by the resolution. Organizations that lobbied for the designation gain a platform for outreach.
Who is hurt
This resolution has no regulatory, spending, or legal effect, so no group is materially harmed. There are no direct costs imposed on any individual, organization, or government entity.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that kinship caregivers — who care for roughly 2.7 million children, including 140,000 in formal foster care — perform an essential social function with little public recognition or support. They contend that a formal Senate designation raises awareness of the challenges these caregivers face, including giving up retirement years and managing children's trauma-related conditions, and may encourage further legislative action building on the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that commemorative resolutions consume limited legislative time and floor resources without producing any enforceable benefit for the children or caregivers they honor. They contend that the Senate's attention would be better directed toward substantive legislation — such as expanded funding or services — that would materially improve outcomes for the 2.7 million children in kinship care rather than issuing a symbolic declaration.