Honoring National Grandparents Day

HONORING NATIONAL GRANDPARENTS DAY -- (Extensions of Remarks - September 14, 2006)

SPEECH OF
HON. DANNY K. DAVIS
OF ILLINOIS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006

* Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of National Grandparents Day. Designated as the first Sunday following Labor Day of every year, Grandparents Day began in 1979 by a proclamation from President Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately the vital work of grandparents frequently goes unrecognized and underappreciated. Not only do grandparents provide ties to our past, they often times provide care to the Nation's children.

* Grandparents make up 5.7 million households living with over 6.1 million children, evidence that many of these grandparents are often times caring for more than one child. It is important to note that 42 percent of grandparent caregivers are the sole providers for the most basic needs of one or more of the children in their custody. Alarmingly, 35.8 percent of grandchildren under the age of 18 live in homes with Supplemental Security Income (SSI), or other form of public assistance, and 460,000 of these grandparent led households fall below the poverty line.

* Chicago, alone, is the home to three of the top ten congressional districts for children living in the homes of grandparents or other relatives. In my congressional district there are 23,397 grandparents living with grandchildren and over ten thousand grandparents who are responsible for their grandchildren's needs; indeed the 7th District of Illinois, my congressional district, has the highest percentage of children living in kinship care in the entire Nation. Not only does my district have the highest incidence of grandparent-headed households in the Nation, it also has a disproportionate number of African American grandparent caregivers, around 82 percent of all grandparent-headed households. It is an unfortunate fact that the problem of grandparent-headed households disproportionately affects African-American grandparents who serve as kinship care providers at higher rates than other racial/ethnic groups; a fact that federal policies need to understand and address.

* B.C. Forbes said, ``Upon our children--how they are taught--rests the fate--or fortune--of tomorrow's world.'' The fate of our children and their future lies with the millions of grandparents who tirelessly raise their grandchildren. Grandparent-headed households are an unremitting force on our Nation's children and deserve our gratitude and support.

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