skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Family Ties Shift in Wyoming as Kinship Care Grows

play audio
Play

Wednesday, May 23, 2012   

CASPER, Wyo. - For more than 4,000 children in Wyoming, grandma, grandpa or an aunt is playing the role of "parent." And a report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation shows it's a growing trend.

Wyoming Kids Count Director Marc Homer says keeping children's ties to extended family is important when they endure the stress of a separation from their parents.

"They're more successful in school, there's less absenteeism, and in the long term, fewer behavioral and psychiatric problems."

Children end up being cared for by relatives or close family friends because of military deployments, parental death, incarceration, substance abuse or mental illness, or child abuse and neglect. The report points out that many caregivers don't know there are resources available to help them cover the unexpected costs of taking in those children, such as SNAP, Medicaid, child care and TANF cash assistance.

Homer says most kinship caregivers in Wyoming are grandparents, and they face unique challenges in caring for children again. He finds that state policies are often difficult when care-giving needs to become permanent.

"Unfortunately, the path to permanent guardianship, or even adoption, is rather difficult. There's a lot of roadblocks and some of their rights are not really protected."

Nationwide, the report says the number of children in kinship care has risen 18 percent in the past decade.

The report,"Stepping Up for Kids: What Government and Communities Should Do to Support Kinship Families," is at
www.AECF.org.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021