Rep. Hayes bill would help kids being raised by grandparents with free school lunch
A federal bill to extend school lunch benefits to millions of kids being raised by someone other than their parents would help stabilize the uncertainty in their young lives, lawmakers said.
U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes should know.
“Having been raised by my grandmother, I am personally aware that the nuclear family has changed,” said Hayes, a second-term Democrat who introduced a bill in the House to help children being raised by grandparents and other guardians to receive the same free school meals as other kids in need.
“This is a solution which immediately supports children in these circumstances in need of basic nutrition,” Hayes said in a prepared statement. “(These kids) need uninterrupted access to school meals programs with automatic eligibility and certification.”
The CARE for Kids Act, which has also been introduced in the Senate, is the latest weapon employed in the war on hunger, which Hayes announced earlier this year after being named chairwoman in Februaryof the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations.
In May, Hayes chaired her first hearing on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and called on President Joe Biden to commission a White House conference focused on “ending hunger throughout the United States by 2030.”
Just as Hayes personalized the issue in May by sharing that SNAP helped her growing up in Waterbury public housing — and again at 17 when she dropped out of high school to become a single mom — Hayes used her story this week to humanize the case for more school lunches.
Hayes has been open with Danbury-area voters and in Connecticut’s sprawling 5th Congressional District about her mother’s substance abuse, sharing in a campaign video that she was “raised by my grandmother while my mom struggled with addiction.”
Because of the help she received, Hayes went on to raise her children and complete her education, becoming a teacher in her hometown school district, and being named the 2016 National Teacher of the Year.
Today, Hayes says, millions of children growing up in the same situation who are cared for by someone other than their parents, “could be ineligible or decertified for free and reduced-price meals at school.”
The solution, Hayes says, is to “ensure that local education agencies can provide automatic eligibility for children in these living arrangements.”
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who introduced the companion bill in the Senate, said the opioid epidemic and the COVID-19 crisis have made living situations more unstable for kids.
“With so much uncertainty in all other aspects of their lives, these children should not have to worry about when or where they will receive their next meal,” Casey said in a prepared statement. “The CARE for Kids Act closes a loophole in order to ensure that these children can access nutritious foods through school meal programs. At the same time, it also eases the financial burden for their caregivers, often grandparents or other relatives.”
A Republican member on Hayes’ Nutrition, Oversight, and Department Operations subcommittee agreed.
“Not only is a safe, loving home important for children, so is a well-balanced nutritional meal,” U.S. Rep. Don Bacon said in a prepared statement. “I know that the CARE for Kids Act will ensure these children have access to a healthy lifestyle and their families will receive the support they need.”
Among the groups endorsing the legislation is the nonprofit Ending Hunger Connecticut.
“We know that ensuring children have access to nutritious food is critical to their long-term success,” said Robin Lamott Sparks, the nonprofit’s, executive director, in a prepared statement. “This bill will close a gap in our system and help to feed children who have already faced numerous challenges in their young lives.”
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