WHEREAS, in the State of Maine, many children reside in formal and informal kinship care; and

WHEREAS, approximately 6,100 grandparents in Maine are currently standing in as parents; and

WHEREAS, every child in the State of Maine deserves the opportunity to grow and flourish in a supportive, nurturing, and safe home environment while retaining their sense of belonging to family, culture, and community; and

WHEREAS, grandparents and other relatives both biological and fictive can often provide the safety and stability that children need to reach their full and most positive potential; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine is committed to partnering with kinship families and with public and private organizations to prioritize family stability whenever possible and whenever in the best interests of the child; and

WHEREAS, the State of Maine partners with The Adoptive & Foster Families of Maine Inc. and the Kinship Program, to provide education, material goods, and financial and emotional support to formal and informal kinship families who are the primary caregiver;

NOW THEREFORE, be it resolved that I, Janet T. Mills Governor of the State of Maine, do hereby proclaim September 2024 as

Grandparents/Grandfamilies Awareness Month

throughout the State of Maine, and I urge all citizens to recognize this observance.

In testimony whereof, I have caused the Great Seal of the State to be hereunto affixed GIVEN under my hand at Augusta this twenty ninth day of August Two Thousand Twenty-Four