File #: Res 0165-2004    Version: * Name: Acknowledging the crucial role that grandparents in NYC play in raising grandchildren.
Type: Resolution Status: Adopted
Committee: Committee on Aging
On agenda: 2/26/2004
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: Resolution acknowledging the crucial role that grandparents in New York City play in raising grandchildren, and calling upon the appropriate Council committee to hold a hearing to further explore this issue.
Sponsors: Bill Perkins, Maria Baez, Letitia James, John C. Liu, Michael C. Nelson, Domenic M. Recchia, Jr., Kendall Stewart, Helen D. Foster, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., David I. Weprin, Betsy Gotbaum, Dennis P. Gallagher, Sara M. Gonzalez
Council Member Sponsors: 13
Attachments: 1. Committee Report, 2. Hearing Transcript, 3. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 5/5
Date Ver.Prime SponsorAction ByActionResultAction DetailsMeeting DetailsMultimedia
5/5/2004*Bill Perkins City Council Approved, by CouncilPass Action details Meeting details Not available
4/27/2004*Bill Perkins Committee on Aging Approved by CommitteePass Action details Meeting details Not available
4/27/2004*Bill Perkins Committee on Aging Hearing Held by Committee  Action details Meeting details Not available
2/26/2004*Bill Perkins City Council Referred to Comm by Council  Action details Meeting details Not available
2/26/2004*Bill Perkins City Council Introduced by Council  Action details Meeting details Not available

Res. No. 165

 

Resolution acknowledging the crucial role that grandparents in New York City play in raising grandchildren, and calling upon the appropriate Council committee to hold a hearing to further explore this issue.

 

By Council Members Perkins, Baez, James, Liu, Nelson, Recchia, Stewart, Foster, Comrie, Weprin, The Public Advocate (Ms. Gotbaum), Gallagher and Gonzalez

 

 

                     Whereas, According to the 2000 Census, over 2.4 million grandparents nationwide are responsible for meeting the basic needs of their grandchildren; and

                     Whereas, In New York City, nearly, 84,000 grandparents are primary caretakers, or kinship caregivers, for their grandchildren; and

                     Whereas, Over the past twenty-five years, the number of children being raised by grandparents has increased considerably; and

                     Whereas, According to the intergenerational organization Generations United, between 1990 and 1998 alone, the number of grandparent-headed households without the presence of either parent increased by 53 percent; and

Whereas, Grandparent kinship care is often required because parents are unable to care for children due to substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and other illnesses, death, abuse, neglect, incarceration, divorce and other crises; and

                     Whereas, Grandparents raising grandchildren face numerous challenges, including legal custody issues, lack of financial resources, inadequacy of housing and medical care, children’s behavioral problems, child care, education, and the need for respite care and emotional support; and

                     Whereas, Despite these multiple challenges, children raised by grandparents benefit from daily familial contact; and

                     Whereas, Further, grandparents are frequently the last line of defense in keeping children out of non-kinship foster care; now, therefore, be it

                     Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York acknowledges the crucial role that grandparents in New York City play in raising grandchildren, and calls upon the appropriate Council committee to hold a hearing to further explore this issue.

 

LS #362

CAB

2/12/04