[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 3, 2016)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 26663-26664]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10505]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 81 , No. 85 / Tuesday, May 3, 2016 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 26663]]


                Proclamation 9432 of April 28, 2016

                
National Foster Care Month, 2016

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The success of our country tomorrow depends on the 
                well-being of our children today. As a Nation, we have 
                a duty to empower each child so they have the same 
                sense of promise and possibility as any other young 
                person no matter who they are, where they come from, or 
                what their circumstances are. Foster youth deserve the 
                security and strong support structures they need to 
                achieve their dreams. During National Foster Care 
                Month, we lift up our Nation's foster children, 
                celebrate the selfless men and women who embrace 
                children in the foster care system, and we recommit to 
                helping more children find permanency so they can feel 
                stable, grounded, and free to fulfill their limitless 
                potential.

                With open hearts, families and professionals across 
                America work each day to give foster youth the 
                resources, warmth, and care they need. Over 400,000 
                children remain in the foster care system, and tens of 
                thousands of youth age out of foster care before they 
                find their forever family. Only half of children in 
                foster care complete high school by age 18, and less 
                than 5 percent graduate college. Young people who age 
                out of foster care without a permanent home are often 
                at higher risk of entering the criminal justice system, 
                and they can face greater challenges to completing an 
                education, obtaining high-quality health care, and 
                securing gainful employment. We also know kids are 
                better off when raised by loving families, not 
                institutions. These difficult outcomes are often 
                exaggerated further when children are placed in group 
                homes.

                I am committed to preventing youth from falling into 
                these situations. I have proposed allowing child 
                welfare agencies to use Federal funds to provide 
                critical services and shelter to foster youth who have 
                aged out of the system until they are 23. My 
                Administration is also working to reduce abuse and 
                neglect by focusing resources on strengthening families 
                so children stay out of foster care in the first place. 
                Children living in foster care are more likely than 
                other children to be overprescribed medication for 
                social-emotional and mental health disorders. That is 
                why my Administration is encouraging greater use of 
                evidence-based screening, assessment, and treatment of 
                trauma and mental health disorders for kids in foster 
                care. And because every child deserves access to 
                quality, affordable health insurance, the Affordable 
                Care Act requires each State to extend Medicaid 
                coverage to foster children who have aged out of the 
                foster care system until the age of 26.

                Children grow to become their best selves when they are 
                surrounded by supportive families. Caretakers support 
                foster youth and help them see a future of greater 
                promise and hope. Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled 
                that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality, 
                giving more kids in foster care the opportunity to be 
                part of a loving family. My Administration will 
                continue fighting to ensure eligible and qualified 
                caretakers have the chance to become an adoptive or 
                foster parent regardless of race, religion, gender 
                identity, or sexual orientation. The commitment and 
                dependability of a family can provide foster youth with 
                the confidence to write and control their own destiny. 
                Family is the bedrock of the American story, and we

[[Page 26664]]

                must do everything we can to support all young people 
                so they can be free from harm, healthy, and ready to 
                chart the course of our Nation's unwritten history.

                When we create environments for all young people to 
                grow and flourish and safely live as who they are 
                regardless of race, background, religion, sexual 
                orientation or gender identity our country is stronger. 
                This month, and every month, let us pay tribute to the 
                children in foster care and the dedicated parents and 
                professionals who tirelessly work to shape their lives. 
                And as a country, let us embrace the spirit that every 
                child matters and continue working to provide all of 
                our daughters and sons with an equal chance to lead 
                productive and fulfilling lives, limited by nothing but 
                the power of their imaginations and the scope of their 
                dreams.

                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 2016 as National 
                Foster Care Month. I call upon all Americans to observe 
                this month by taking time to help youth in foster care 
                and recognizing the commitment of all who touch their 
                lives.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two 
                thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United 
                States of America the two hundred and fortieth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2016-10505
Filed 5-2-16; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3295-F6-P