30:4C-90 Findings, declarations relative to kinship legal guardianship.

2. The Legislature finds and declares that:

a. An increasing number of relatives in the State, including grandparents, find themselves providing care on a long-term basis to children who cannot reside with their parents due to the parent's incapacity or inability to perform the regular and expected functions of care and support of the child;

b. The State law allows for the appointment of an individual as a kinship legal guardian; a kinship legal guardian has the same rights, responsibilities, and authority relating to a child as a birth parent, with the exception of consenting to the adoption of the child or a name change for the child, while the birth parent retains the obligation to pay child support and the right to court-approved visitation or parenting time with the child;

c. (Deleted by amendment, P.L.2012, c.16);

d. The Department of Children and Families has established the Kinship Navigator program, which is a referral service designed to help kinship caregivers coordinate the various government and community resources that may be available to them; and

e. It is appropriate for the State to ensure that individuals who may be eligible to become kinship legal guardians are aware of the eligibility requirements for, and the responsibilities of, kinship legal guardianship, and that both individuals who may be eligible to become kinship legal guardians and current kinship legal guardians are aware of the services available to kinship legal guardians in the State.

L.2005, c.95, s.2; amended 2012, c.16, s.111.