[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 212 (Thursday, October 31, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 56383-56384]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28234]



[[Page 56381]]


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Part VII





The President





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Proclamation 6947--National Adoption Month, 1996



Proclamation 6948--To Modify Provisions on Upland Cotton and for Other 
Purposes
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 212 / Thursday, October 31, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 56383]]

                Proclamation 6947 of October 29, 1996

                
National Adoption Month, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Thousands of American children have never known what it 
                is like to belong to a family--to grow up with the 
                comfort and security that most of us take for granted. 
                They are children whose parents, for a variety of 
                reasons, are unable or unwilling to care for them. 
                Instead, these children often find themselves drifting 
                from home to home in foster care. They live every day 
                without mothers or fathers to guide them, nurture them, 
                and tell them that they are special.

                Adoption is a commonsense solution that places children 
                in permanent homes with parents who will offer them 
                love and security. National Adoption Month is a time 
                for all Americans to reflect on the rewards of joining 
                children who need families with adults who seek the 
                responsibilities and joys of parenthood. This month is 
                an opportunity to celebrate family, especially families 
                formed by adoptions.

                Our Nation has no greater responsibility than to ensure 
                that every child has the chance to live up to his or 
                her God-given potential. We can help meet that 
                challenge by identifying a permanent, loving family for 
                every child waiting in the foster care system.

                Among the approximately 86,000 children who will await 
                adoption within the next few years are tens of 
                thousands with special needs. Many of these, through no 
                fault of their own, wait years for adoption. Yet when 
                these children are accepted into loving family 
                environments, they can bring the same joy, affection, 
                and love to their adoptive families as other children 
                bring.

                In recent years, we have made important strides in 
                encouraging parents to adopt. I have signed legislation 
                to help facilitate adoptions by prohibiting 
                discrimination based on race or ethnicity in placement 
                decisions, increasing the recruitment of adoptive 
                parents, and providing a tax credit to families who 
                adopt children.

                Much remains to be done, however. As a Nation, we must 
                continue to work to remove obstacles to adoption, to 
                recruit new adoptive families, to offer financial 
                incentives for placements, and to provide support to 
                parents adopting children with special needs. Nothing 
                should stand in the way of providing every boy and girl 
                in America the permanent, loving home each of them 
                deserves. Children are, after all, our country's most 
                precious resource and our most important 
                responsibility.

                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 1996 as National 
                Adoption Month. I urge the people of the United States 
                to observe this month with appropriate activities and 
                programs and to participate in efforts to find 
                permanent homes for waiting children.

[[Page 56384]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-first.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-28234
Filed 10-30-96; 11:52 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P