SRES-736-116
Submitted in the Senate, considered, and agreed to without amendment and with a preamble by Voice Vote. (consideration: CR S5998; text: CR S5985)
Sponsored by Ron Wyden (D-OR)
What it does
This Senate resolution officially designates September 2020 as "National Kinship Care Month." It encourages community stakeholders — such as nonprofits, government agencies, and local organizations — to collaborate on improving the well-being of children and families in kinship care arrangements, where children are raised by relatives or close family friends rather than parents.
Who benefits
Children in kinship care arrangements (estimated 2.5–3 million in the U.S.) and the relatives or family friends raising them may receive increased public awareness and community attention. Advocacy organizations focused on kinship and foster care may gain visibility. Social workers and child welfare agencies may benefit from heightened public engagement.
Who is hurt
No group is directly or materially harmed by this resolution. It carries no legal mandates, spending provisions, or regulatory requirements. Some critics of symbolic legislation broadly argue that congressional floor time and resources used on non-binding resolutions represent an opportunity cost.
Supporters argue
Supporters argue that designating a national awareness month shines a spotlight on the roughly 2.5–3 million children in the U.S. being raised by grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other relatives — a population that often lacks the same support systems available to children in formal foster care. They contend that public awareness is a necessary first step toward policy change, encouraging communities, nonprofits, and local governments to coordinate resources and services for kinship families. Supporters also note that kinship care is widely recognized as a stabilizing option for children who cannot live with their parents, preserving family bonds and cultural connections that formal foster placement may disrupt.
Opponents argue
Opponents argue that a non-binding resolution designating an awareness month produces no concrete change in law, funding, or policy, and therefore does little to address the real and documented challenges kinship caregivers face — such as limited access to financial assistance, legal guardianship barriers, and inadequate support services. They contend that congressional action on substantive legislation, such as expanding eligibility for foster care assistance programs or increasing funding for kinship navigator programs, would deliver measurable benefits where a symbolic designation cannot. Critics of this type of legislation broadly suggest that floor time spent on ceremonial resolutions displaces time available for binding legislative action.