Presidential Documents

60153

Federal Register

Vol. 62, No. 215

Thursday, November 6, 1997

Title 3—

The President

Proclamation 7048 of November 3, 1997

National Adoption Month, 1997

By the President of the United States

A Proclamation

Most American children are blessed with loving, stable families. But, tragically, in our country today there are too many children whose parents

are unwilling or unable to care for them. While foster care offers these

children a safe and nurturing temporary haven in their time of greatest

need, as many as 100,000 foster care kids will need permanent homes

in the next few years. Many of these children have special needs and

require the security and stability of an adoptive family to develop their

full potential. Adoption allows these and other children to have the permanent homes they deserve, and it enables many dedicated adults to experience

the joys and rewards of parenting.

My Administration is working hard to find ways to help encourage adoption.

On December 14, 1996, I issued a Memorandum to the Secretaries of Health

and Human Services, the Treasury, Labor, and Commerce and to the Director

of the Office of Personnel Management, directing them to promote efforts

to both increase the number of children who are adopted or permanently

placed each year and to move children more rapidly from foster care to

permanent homes. I also urged them to increase public awareness about

the children waiting for permanent families and to encourage all Americans

to consider the rewards of adoption.

I challenged the members of my Administration to work with States, communities, and civic leaders to create a plan for doubling the number of adoptions

and permanent placements for children to 54,000 by the year 2002. And

on February 14, 1997, the Adoption 2002 report, outlining changes in policies

and practices necessary to reach this goal, was released. Since then, we

have been actively implementing the recommendations included in the report, and States are reviewing data and submitting numerical targets for

adoption and guardianships to be completed by the year 2002. The Office

of Personnel Management has published a guide for Federal workers interested in adopting, and the Department of Health and Human Services is

preparing to make the first annual Adoption 2002 Excellence awards later

this year. Finally, the Congress is considering historic legislation that would

provide the resources and statutory authority for financial incentives, technical assistance, and improved judicial decision-making for children in foster

care.

As a Nation, we have before us an opportunity to make a real difference

in the lives of our most vulnerable children. We must continue to promote

public awareness of the need for adoptive families and to help families

make the choice to provide loving, permanent homes for the many children

who otherwise must continue to wait. We must also strengthen our support

of those families who do choose to adopt. As we observe National Adoption

Month, we reaffirm our commitment to adoption as a new beginning for

thousands of children, and we celebrate the many American families who

have embraced these children by accepting the rewards and responsibilities

of adoption.
60154 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 215 / Thursday, November 6, 1997 / Presidential Documents

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the United States

of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution

and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 1997 as National

Adoption Month. I urge all Americans to observe this month with appropriate

programs and activities to honor adoptive families and to participate in

efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of

November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven,

and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred

[FR Doc. 97–29567

Filed 11–5–97; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

and twenty-second.

œ–