[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 5, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 23849-23850]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-09573]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 85 / Wednesday, May 5, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 23849]]


                Proclamation 10192 of April 30, 2021

                
National Foster Care Month, 2021

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every child deserves to grow up in a supportive, loving 
                home where they can thrive and prosper. During those 
                unfortunate times when children cannot remain safely in 
                their own homes, the individuals and families who open 
                their hearts and homes to foster children provide a 
                vital service to their communities. During this 
                National Foster Care Month, we share our gratitude for 
                those who support youth and families by being a 
                resource to children in need and supporting birth 
                parents so that they may safely reunite with their 
                families whenever possible. We also recognize that it 
                takes collaboration and community effort--from local 
                organizations to Federal agencies--to support children, 
                birth parents, and resource and kin families during 
                challenging times.

                Young people in foster care have been particularly 
                impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They are navigating 
                circumstances that are already tough, and those 
                challenges are compounded by a public health crisis 
                that made housing, employment and educational 
                opportunities even harder to access.

                To support the immediate needs of youth in foster care, 
                my Administration is implementing Federal programs 
                authorized by the Supporting Foster Youth and Families 
                through the Pandemic Act. This law provides additional 
                flexibility and support for youth aging out of foster 
                care, and allows them to access critical services to 
                help them stay in school or participate in a job 
                training program, pay the bills, and better make the 
                difficult transition to adulthood. We have an 
                expression in the Biden family, ``If you have to ask 
                for help, it's too late.'' As a Nation, we can 
                proactively help children by advancing a holistic 
                approach to child and family well-being across the 
                country--before it's too late.

                As we work to address immediate needs, we must be clear 
                about long-standing challenges in child welfare and 
                commit to advancing child and family well-being in 
                every way we can. Our children, birth parents, and 
                resource and kin families deserve nothing less. So this 
                National Foster Care Month, we also recognize the 
                histories of injustice in our Nation's foster care 
                system. Throughout our history and persisting today, 
                too many communities of color, especially Black and 
                Native American communities, have been treated 
                unequally and often unfairly by the child welfare 
                system. Black and Native American children are far more 
                likely than white children to be removed from their 
                homes, even when the circumstances surrounding the 
                removal are similar. Once removed, Black and Native 
                American children stay in care longer and are less 
                likely to either reunite with their birth parents or be 
                adopted. Too many children are removed from loving 
                homes because poverty is often conflated with neglect, 
                and the enduring effects of systemic racism and 
                economic barriers mean that families of color are 
                disproportionately affected by this as well. Children 
                with disabilities are over-represented among youth in 
                care and may be inappropriately placed in group 
                settings instead of provided the individualized support 
                they need. Children in foster care--particularly youth 
                of color and LGBTQ+ children who are already subject to 
                disproportionate rates of school discipline and 
                criminalization--are also at an increased risk of 
                becoming involved in the

[[Page 23850]]

                juvenile justice system. And for LGBTQ+ foster youth, 
                foster care systems are not always equipped to safely 
                meet their needs.

                My Administration is committed to addressing these 
                entrenched problems in our Nation's child welfare 
                system, advancing equity and racial justice for every 
                child and family who is touched by the foster care and 
                child welfare system, and focusing on policies that 
                improve child and family well-being. This is why my 
                Administration's discretionary funding request for 2022 
                includes $100 million in competitive grants for State 
                and local child welfare systems to advance racial 
                equity and prevent unnecessary child removals.

                National Foster Care Month is an opportunity for us to 
                celebrate the resource and kin families who are 
                supporting children by opening their homes and sharing 
                their love. Crucially, it is also an opportunity to 
                celebrate foster youth and all of their 
                accomplishments, and to celebrate and encourage the 
                many biological parents who are working hard to safely 
                reunite with their children. And it provides an 
                opportunity for us to fulfill our responsibility as a 
                Nation to take care of each other and provide our 
                vulnerable youth and families with the support they 
                need.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., 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 2021 as 
                National Foster Care Month. I call upon all Americans 
                to observe this month by reaching out in their 
                neighborhoods and communities to the children and youth 
                in foster care and their families, those at risk of 
                entering foster care, and resource and kin families and 
                other caregivers.

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

[FR Doc. 2021-09573
Filed 5-4-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3295-F1-P