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Supporters tell Senate committee to expand grandparent power-of-attorney to all kin caregivers
Summary
Supporters of Senate Bill 58 told the Senate Judiciary Committee the bill would expand the state’s grandparent power-of-attorney and caretaker authorization affidavit so other kinship caregivers — aunts, uncles, siblings, stepparents and close non‑relatives — could enroll children in school and consent to medical care.
Multiple advocates told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Senate Bill 58 would improve stability for children in kinship care by allowing relatives beyond grandparents to use the grandparent power-of-attorney (POA) and the caretaker authorization affidavit (CAA) to enroll children in school and consent to health care.
Larry Bresler of Northern Ohioans for Budget Legislation Equality (NOBLE) described kinship care as an evidence‑based preference over non‑relative foster placement and urged expansion of authority to other relatives and close caregivers. "This would permit them to be able to enroll the child in school and participate in their educational processes, obtain medical treatment, and other needs that might that the child might have that would require a parent's authorization," Bresler testified.
Tim Johnson of the Ohio Poverty Law Center and Mary Wachtel of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio also testified in favor. Johnson said the opioid crisis and the pandemic have increased the number of children in kinship homes and that Ohio is currently unique in restricting the POA and CAA to grandparents. Wachtel said federal policy favors kinship placement and that formal and informal kinship caregivers need tools to avoid unnecessary foster placements.
Latress "Yaya" Lumpkin, a kinship caregiver and member of the Ohio Grandparent Kinship Coalition, described the practical role of the documents: notarized, filed with the county juvenile court, and usable without the cost and delay of formal custody proceedings. Witnesses provided census and administrative figures during testimony: Wachtel cited a 2023 figure of 81,400 Ohio grandparents raising grandchildren and said census data shows roughly 297,000 children live in relative-caregiver households (American Community Survey figures referenced in testimony). She also said about one‑fourth of children in PCSA custody are placed with approved kinship caregivers.
Proponents said the bill would impose no additional state cost and might reduce state and county foster-care expenditures by keeping children with relatives where appropriate. Committee members recorded the item as SB 58’s second hearing; no committee vote or amendment was recorded at the session.
