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| Casey’s President and CEO, Ruth Massinga (Right) presents Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) with its Casey Leadership Award |
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Casey Family Programs presented Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) with its Leadership Award today for her uncompromising commitment to improve the lives of youth in foster care and specifically her support for family members who step up and take on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren, nieces and nephews, often referred to as kinship care. Casey Family Programs is the nation’s largest foundation dedicated solely to providing and improving—and ultimately preventing the need for—foster care.
“Throughout her legislative career, Sen. Snowe has fought valiantly to support low-income families, and defend the needs of children in foster care and the child welfare system,” said Ruth Massinga, president and CEO of Casey Family Programs. “This has been exemplified by her insistence that the child care tax cut be refundable, and most recently, a legislative initiative she introduced to provide financial assistance to children living with their grandparents so that families can remain intact.”
Currently, there are approximately six million children and youth throughout the country who are being raised by grandparents or other family members. Yet, at the federal and state policy level, little is done to support kinship caregivers.
The Kinship Caregiver Support Act expands the support and services available to these grandparents and other relatives. The bill provides a “kinship navigator” program designed to help families sort through the maze of available services, including how to enroll children in school or obtain health coverage for them.
“Grandparents and other relatives generously give of themselves everyday to care for children in need,” said Sen. Snowe. “I believe we can do more – and must do more – to better equip the relatives who sacrifice so much to provide safe, loving homes.”
Last week, Sen. Snowe called on the U.S. Senate to reconsider cuts to the Medicaid program in light of aftermath associated with Hurricane Katrina and the growing medical crisis.
“Proposed cuts to Medicaid could do real harm to youth in foster care,” added Massinga in recognizing Snowe’s efforts to protect the country’s most vulnerable. “We cannot turn our backs on the children and families who need these services the most.”
Casey Family Programs has a presence across the country and collaborates with foster, kinship and adoptive parents to provide safe, permanent and loving families for youth in foster care. The foundation also works with counties, states, and American Indian and Alaska Native tribes to improve services and outcomes for the more than 500,000 young people in out-of-home care .