A RESOLUTION urging the Legislature and the Governor of the State of Kansas to continue to protect
grandparent rights, especially when considering the placement, legal guardianship and adoption
of grandchildren who are in need of care, and to allow more grandparents in the raising of their
grandchildren in Kansas.
WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of Kansas in 2012 enacted Senate Bill No. 262,
codified as K.S.A. 38-2286, which gave grandparents substantial consideration when the state is
determining the placement of a child who has been removed from the custody of their parents; and
WHEREAS, Substantial consideration given to grandparents is guided by the best interests of
the child but also considers the wishes of the parents, child and grandparent; the extent to which the
grandparent has cared for, nurtured and supported the child; the intent and circumstances under which
the child is placed with the grandparent, including whether domestic violence is a factor and whether
the child is placed to allow the parent to seek work or attend school; and the physical and mental health
of all individuals involved; and
WHEREAS, The State of Kansas also recognizes the responsibility grandparents assume when
they commit to raising their grandchildren and seeks to provide them with additional financial
resources for the provision of care through the Grandparents as Caregivers program; and
WHEREAS, Grandparent rights are a crucial tenet of the child placement system, not only for
grandchildren temporarily removed from a home but also when considering the long-term legal
guardianship and adoption options of grandchildren; and
WHEREAS, Current law limits participation in the Grandparents as Caregivers program to
grandparents who are 50 years of age or older, but many younger than 50 serve as caring grandparents
and, therefore, should be recognized and supported; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature should lower the age requirement for participation in the
Grandparents as Caregivers program in K.S.A. 38-145 to 40 years of age or older to include more
grandparents who have committed to raising their grandchildren: Now, therefore,
Be it resolved by the Silver Haired Legislature of the State of Kansas: That we urge the
Legislature and Governor of the State of Kansas to continue to protect grandparent rights regarding the
placement, legal guardianship and adoption of grandchildren who are in need of care; and
Be it further resolved: That the Legislature lower the age requirement for participation in the
Grandparents as Caregivers program to grandparents 40 years of age or older.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A RESOLUTION urging the Legislature and the Governor of the State of Kansas to continue to protectgrandparent rights, especially when considering the placement, legal guardianship and adoptionof grandchildren who are in need of care, and to allow more grandparents in the raising of theirgrandchildren in Kansas. WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of Kansas in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":546,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-567","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/567","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/567\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":569,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/567\/revisions\/569"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kansas-shl.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}