In Pennsylvania, over 235,000 grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren’s needs. Sadly, for every 1 child raised by kin in foster care, there are 10 being raised by kin outside of foster care. A major contributing factor has been the opioid epidemic.

Throughout Pennsylvania many families of grandparents supporting grandchildren are low-income households depending upon social security, Medicare and Medicaid. Often, they are facing complex issues and aren't financially equipped to address emergency personal needs of the child or children for whom they are caring.

To address this issue, we will soon be introducing legislation to provide much needed support to grandfamilies. Specifically, families in which children reside with and are raised by their grandparents.

According to a recent survey conducted by The National Library of Medicine, nearly all grandfamilies are directly impacted by parental substance misuse with over 70% specifically referencing opioids, namely heroin. More broadly, data from the CDC and US Census Bureau, indicates that the states with the highest percentages of grandparents raising grandchildren are also the states with the highest opioid prescribing rates.

This legislation will utilize Opioid Settlement funds to provide grants to local Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs) to evaluate and assist in those instances where grandparents need short-term emergency help to address the personal care needs of the grandchildren living with them. While responsible for assessing the needs of older adults, AAAs continue to stress that they struggle to aid these grandparents raising grandchildren.

These families need our help. Please join us in cosponsoring this important legislation.