[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 23557-23558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10572]


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

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 23557]]

                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.

[[Page 23558]]

                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.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2010-10572
Filed 5-3-10; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P