All children – including thousands of Pennsylvania children who need the care of skilled nurses – deserve to live with their families. A national nursing shortage has made that impossible for some children and threatens the home lives of many others. Families are trained and expected, but not paid, to provide even the most extraordinary skilled care their children need. When nurses are unavailable during their work and sleep hours, parents are forced to either stay home and give up the jobs that support their families or place their children in institutional care, sometimes far from home.
 
I am proposing legislation that would create a special license for parents (or designated family members) who are well-trained in their children’s care to be paid and supervised by home health agencies to provide to their children, and to no other children, the skilled nursing-level care that keeps their children alive and well. This license would be optional as parents should not be required to leave their jobs or give up their careers, and limited in the number of hours permitted. While a second bill, aimed at improving access to skilled nurses for children, as required by federal law, remains necessary, this new option will ameliorate the devastating financial burdens on those families who choose to use it, and allow more children to remain with their families.

Parents should not have to choose between working and raising their children at home. Please join me in co-sponsoring this licensure bill to help keep children with their families.