    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
    [November 19, 1997]
    [Pages 1612-1614]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997
    November 19, 1997

        Thank you, Sue Ann. Thank you, Aaron. And I want to thank the Badeau
    family for showing up. I think it's fair to say it was a greater effort
    for them than for anyone else here. [Laughter] I appreciate the rest of
    your presence. It was easier for me than anybody; I just had to come
    downstairs. [Laughter] But I'm grateful that they're here.
        Secretary Shalala, I thank you and your staff for your remarkable
    work on this. And I thank the members of the White House staff, all the
    Members of Congress who are present here. And especially I thank
    Senators Rockefeller and Chafee and Congressmen Camp and Kennelly for
    their work and for what they said here.
        Congratulations to the Adoption 2002 Excellence Award winners. I
    thank all the advocates who are here. And I say a special word of
    thanks, along with all the others who have said it, to the First Lady,
    who has been passionately committed to this issue for at least 25 years
    now that I know. Thank you, Governor Romer,

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    for coming. And thank you, Dave Thomas, for what you've done.
        Again let me say to all the Members of Congress who are here,
    Republicans and Democrats alike, I am very grateful for what you've
    done. This, after all is what we got in public life for, isn't it?
    [Applause]
        Before I make my brief remarks, if you'll forgive me and understand,
    I have to make one public statement today about the situation in Iraq.
        As I have said before, I prefer to resolve this situation
    peacefully, with our friends and allies, and I am working hard to do
    just that. But I want to be clear again about the necessary objective of
    any diplomacy now underway. Iraq must comply with the unanimous will of
    the international community and let the weapons inspectors resume their
    work to prevent Iraq from developing an arsenal of nuclear, chemical,
    and biological weapons. The inspectors must be able to do so without
    interference. That's our top line; that's our bottom line. I want to
    achieve it diplomatically. But we're taking every step to make sure we
    are prepared to pursue whatever options are necessary.
        I do not want these children we are trying to put in stable homes to
    grow up into a world where they are threatened by terrorists with
    biological and chemical weapons. It is not right.
        It's hard to believe now, but it was just a little less than a year
    ago when I directed our administration to develop a plan to double the
    number of children we move from foster care to adoptive homes by the
    year 2002. We know that foster parents provide safe and caring families
    for children. But the children should not be trapped in them forever,
    especially when there are open arms waiting to welcome them into
    permanent homes.
        The Adoption and Safe Families Act, which I am about to sign, is
    consistent with the work of the 2002 report and our goals. It
    fundamentally alters our Nation's approach to foster care and adoption.
    And fundamentally, it will improve the well-being of hundreds of
    thousands of our most vulnerable children. The new legislation makes it
    clear that children's health and safety are the paramount concerns of
    our public child welfare system. It makes it clear that good foster care
    provides important safe havens for our children, but it is by definition
    a temporary, not a permanent, setting.
        The new law will help us to speed children out of foster care into
    permanent families by setting meaningful time limits for child welfare
    decisions, by clarifying which family situations call for reasonable
    reunification efforts and which simply do not. It will provide States
    with financial incentives to increase the number of children adopted
    each year. It will ensure that adopted children with special needs never
    lose their health coverage--a big issue. Thank you, Congress, for doing
    that. It will reauthorize Federal funding for timely services to
    alleviate crises before they become serious, that aid the reunification
    of families, that help to meet post-adoption needs.
        With these measures we help families stay together where
    reunification is possible and help find safe homes for children much
    more quickly when it is not. We've come together in an extraordinary
    example of bipartisan cooperation to meet the urgent needs of children
    at risk. We put our differences aside and put our children first.
        This landmark legislation builds on other action taken in the last
    few years by Congress: the adoption tax credit I signed into law last
    August to make adopting children more affordable for families,
    especially those who adopt children with special needs; the Multiethnic
    Placement Act, enacted 2 years ago, ensuring that adoption is free from
    discrimination and delay, based on race, culture, or ethnicity; and the
    very first law I signed as President, the Family and Medical Leave Act
    of 1993, which enables parents to take time off to adopt a child without
    losing their jobs or their health insurance.
        We have put in place here the building blocks of giving all of our
    children what should be their fundamental right--a chance at a decent,
    safe home; an honorable, orderly, positive upbringing; a chance to live
    out their dreams and fulfill their God-given capacities.
        Now as we approach Thanksgiving, when families all across our
    country come together to give thanks for their blessings, I would like
    to encourage more families to consider opening their homes and their
    hearts to children who need loving homes. You may not want to go as far
    as the Badeaus have--[laughter]--but they are a shining example of how
    we grow--they are a shining example of how we grow when we give, how we
    can be blessed in return

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    many times over. We thank them and all--all of the adoptive parents in
    the country.
        For those who are now or have been foster or adoptive parents, I'd
    like to say thank you on behalf of a grateful Nation, and again say at
    Thanksgiving, let us thank God for our blessings and resolve to give
    more of our children the blessings they deserve.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:53 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to Sue Ann Badeau, who introduced the
    President, and her adopted brother Aaron, 2 of 19 children adopted by
    parents Sue and Hector Badeau; Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado; Dave Thomas,
    founder and senior chairman of the board of directors, Wendy's
    International, Inc. H.R. 867, approved November 19, was assigned Public
    Law No. 105-89.