Presidential Documents

23557 

Federal Register 

Vol. 75, No. 85 

Tuesday, May 4, 2010 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 8505 of April 28, 2010 

National Foster Care Month, 2010 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

Nearly a half-million children and youth are in foster care in America, 

all entering the system through no fault of their own. During National 

Foster Care Month, we recognize the promise of children and youth in 

foster care, as well as former foster youth. We also celebrate the professionals 

and foster parents who demonstrate the depth and kindness of the human 

heart. 

Children and youth in foster care deserve the happiness and joy every 

child should experience through family life and a safe, loving home. Families 

provide children with unconditional love, stability, trust, and the support 

to grow into healthy, productive adults. Unfortunately, too many foster 

youth reach the age at which they must leave foster care and enter adulthood 

without the support of a permanent family. 

Much work remains to reach the goal of permanence for every child, and 

my Administration has supported States that increased the number of children adopted out of foster care, providing over $35 million in 2009 through 

the Adoption Incentives program. We are also committed to meeting the 

developmental, educational, and health-related needs of children and youth 

in foster care. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a 

significant increase in funding for the Title IV-E adoption and foster care 

assistance program. States can use these funds to ensure those placed in 

foster care will enter a safe and stable environment. 

In addition, we are implementing the Fostering Connections to Success 

and Increasing Adoptions Act. This law promotes permanency and improved 

outcomes for foster youth through support for kinship care and adoption, 

support for older youth, direct access to Federal resources for Indian tribes, 

coordinated health benefits, improved educational stability and opportunities, 

and adoption incentives and assistance. Former foster youth will also benefit 

from the Affordable Care Act, which, beginning in 2014, will ensure Medicaid 

coverage for them in every State. 

This month, caring foster parents and professionals across our Nation will 

celebrate the triumphs of children and youth in foster care as they work 

to remove barriers to reaching a permanent family. Federal, State, and local 

government agencies, communities, and individuals all have a role to play 

as well. Together, we can ensure that young people in foster care have 

the opportunities and encouragement they need to realize their full potential. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States 

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

and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim May 2010 as National 

Foster Care Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month with 

appropriate programs and activities to honor and support young people 

in foster care, and to recognize the committed adults who work on their 

behalf each day. 


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23558 Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 85 / Tuesday, May 4, 2010 / Presidential Documents 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth 

day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth. 

[FR Doc. 2010–10572 

Filed 5–3–10; 8:45 am] 

Billing code 3195–W0–P 


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