Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin was recognized at the Global Intergenerational Conference with Generations United’s 2017 Jack Ossofsky Award for Lifetime Achievement in Support of Children, Youth and Older Adults. Senator Baldwin, an honorary co-chair of GU’s National Center on Grandfamilies Council, has worked tirelessly to promote policies that bring all generations together, and raise the visibility of grandparents raising grandchildren.
Senator Baldwin was raised by her maternal grandparents and as an adult, served as her grandmother’s primary caretaker. “My grandparents absolutely were my heroes,” Senator Baldwin said. “Growing up in my family shaped my future and my interest in public service. I remain committed to fighting for children, for older Americans and for all types of families in kinship homes.”
Along with Senator Susan Collins of Maine, Senator Baldwin introduced the RAISE Family Caregivers Act, bipartisan legislation that develops and sustains a national strategy to recognize and support the 43 million family caregivers in the United States and address financial security issues for caregivers. “We owe it to these extraordinary family members who care for their loved ones without a single penny of compensation to recognize their role in making our society stronger,” Senator Baldwin said.
She also mentioned bipartisan legislation she worked to introduce this week, the Family-Based Care Services Act. The act would help improve health care and mental health services for vulnerable youth and would help ensure effective community-based actions are available to families who need it most, Senator Baldwin said, “specifically foster families who foster some of our most ill or disabled children, who have very high medical and therapeutic needs, to be able to do so in the loving circumstances of a loving home.”