[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 210 (Monday, November 1, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 59103-59104]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-28716]



[[Page 59101]]

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Part XI





The President





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Proclamation 7245--National Adoption Month, 1999



Notice of October 29, 1999--Continuation of Sudanese Emergency
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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 210 / Monday, November 1, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 59103]]

                Proclamation 7245 of October 28, 1999

                
National Adoption Month, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                This month, as families across America look forward to 
                the holiday season that is fast approaching, we 
                remember with special concern the thousands of children 
                in our Nation who are growing up without the 
                unconditional love and security of a permanent home. 
                Our Nation's foster care system plays an invaluable 
                role in providing temporary safe and caring homes to 
                children who need them, but permanent homes and 
                families are vital to giving these children the 
                stability and sustained love they need to reach their 
                full potential.

                My Administration has worked hard to promote adoption 
                by assisting adoptive families and breaking down 
                barriers to adoption. We have helped remove many 
                economic barriers to adoption by providing tax credits 
                to families adopting children, and the Family and 
                Medical Leave Act that I signed into law in 1993 gives 
                workers job-protected leave to care for their newly 
                adopted children. The Adoption and Safe Families Act I 
                signed in 1997 reformed our Nation's child welfare 
                system, made clear that the health and safety of 
                children must be the paramount concern of State child 
                welfare services, and expedited permanent placement for 
                children. It also ensured health coverage for children 
                with special needs and created new financial incentives 
                for States to increase adoption. We also took important 
                steps to help ensure that the adoption process remains 
                free from discrimination and delays on the basis of 
                race, culture, and ethnicity. We are now working to 
                break down geographic barriers to adoption by using the 
                Internet to link children in foster care to possible 
                adoptive families.

                We have new evidence that our efforts are bearing 
                fruit: the first significant increase in adoptions 
                since the National Foster Care Program was created 
                almost 20 years ago. A new report from the Department 
                of Health and Human Services shows that from 1996 to 
                1998, the number of adoptions nationwide rose 29 
                percent--from 28,000 to 36,000--and should meet our 
                national goal of 56,000 adoptions by the year 2002. In 
                addition, the First Lady and I were pleased to announce 
                this past September the first-ever bonus awards to 
                States that have increased the number of adoptions from 
                the public foster care system. We also announced 
                additional grants to public and private organizations 
                that remove barriers to adoption.

                To follow through on this record of achievement, I have 
                urged the Congress to safeguard the interests and well-
                being of young people who reach the age of 18 without 
                being adopted or placed in a permanent home. Under the 
                current system, Federal financial assistance for young 
                people in foster care ends just as they are making the 
                critical transition to independence. We must ensure 
                that when these young people are old enough to leave 
                the foster care system, they have the health care, life 
                skills training, and educational opportunities they 
                need to succeed personally and professionally.

                As we observe National Adoption Month this year, we can 
                take pride in our progress, but we know there is more 
                work to be done. Let us take this opportunity to 
                rededicate ourselves to meeting those challenges, and 
                let us honor the many adoptive parents whose generosity 
                and love have

[[Page 59104]]

                made such an extraordinary difference in the lives of 
                thousands of our Nation's children.

                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 1999 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, loving homes for waiting children.

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-28716
Filed 10-29-99; 11:31 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P