[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 210 (Wednesday, November 3, 2021)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 60533-60534]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24114]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 210 / Wednesday, November 3, 2021 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 60533]]


                Proclamation 10296 of October 29, 2021

                
National Adoption Month, 2021

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Every child deserves to grow up with a safe and loving 
                family, with the care and support of their community. 
                During National Adoption Month, we celebrate all of the 
                children and families nurtured, enriched, and made 
                whole by adoption and recommit ourselves to ensuring 
                that every child in America can grow up in a loving and 
                supportive home.

                The COVID-19 pandemic has made it especially 
                challenging for children in the foster care system. For 
                thousands of young people in foster care, navigating 
                the challenges of growing up can be especially 
                difficult without stable family connections. Because of 
                the added difficulties imposed by the pandemic, my 
                Administration has implemented the substantial 
                investments made through the Supporting Foster Youth 
                and Families Through the Pandemic Act to help older 
                adolescents transitioning from the foster care system 
                maintain housing, stay in school, pay the bills, and 
                lay a strong foundation for adulthood. My 
                Administration encourages States to continue using 
                these available funds to support older foster youth in 
                every way they can.

                During this month, we also acknowledge the history of 
                injustices and racial bias in our Nation's child 
                welfare system. To this day, Black and Native American 
                children are more likely to be removed from their 
                homes, more likely to stay in care longer, and less 
                likely to be adopted than white children. To ensure the 
                equal dignity and care of all our children, we must 
                improve our efforts to keep families together, prevent 
                the trauma of unnecessary child removal, and recruit 
                and support new adoptive families--especially kinship 
                caregivers. Finally, we must further support families 
                who have already taken youth into their homes and 
                invest the time and energy needed to ensure that all 
                children--including LGBTQ+ youth whose needs are not 
                always met in the foster care system--can find the 
                happiness and well-being that every child and young 
                person deserves.

                This National Adoption Month, we celebrate the families 
                who have been forged through adoption, including from 
                foster care. We extend our gratitude to the dedicated 
                professionals who work tirelessly to support adoptive 
                families through compassion and hard work and to the 
                foster families who love, care, and provide for our 
                Nation's foster youth. Most importantly, we acknowledge 
                the strength and resiliency of the children and youth 
                who are still waiting to find their forever homes.

                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 November 2021 as 
                National Adoption Month. I encourage all Americans to 
                observe this month by helping children and youth in 
                need of a permanent home secure a more promising future 
                with a forever family and enter adulthood with the love 
                and connections that are so important to their growth.

[[Page 60534]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of October, 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-
                sixth.
                
                
                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 2021-24114
Filed 11-2-21; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F2-P