[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 45 (Monday, November 10, 1997)]
[Pages 1726-1727]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7048--National Adoption Month, 1997

November 3, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Most American children are blessed with loving, stable families. 
But, tragically, in our country today there are too many children whose 
parents are unwilling or unable to care for them. While foster care 
offers these children a safe and nurturing temporary haven in their time 
of greatest need, as many as 100,000 foster care kids will need 
permanent homes in the next few years. Many of these children have 
special needs and require the security and stability of an adoptive 
family to develop their full potential. Adoption allows these and other 
children to have the permanent homes they deserve, and it enables many 
dedicated adults to experience the joys and rewards of parenting.
    My Administration is working hard to find ways to help encourage 
adoption. On December 14, 1996, I issued a Memorandum to the Secretaries 
of Health and Human Services, the Treasury, Labor, and Commerce and to 
the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, directing them to 
promote efforts to both increase the number of children who are adopted 
or permanently placed each year and to move children more rapidly from 
foster care to permanent homes. I also urged them to increase public 
awareness about the children waiting for permanent families and to 
encourage all Americans to consider the rewards of adoption.
    I challenged the members of my Administration to work with States, 
communities, and civic leaders to create a plan for doubling the number 
of adoptions and permanent placements for children to 54,000 by the year 
2002. And on February 14, 1997, the Adoption 2002 report, outlining 
changes in policies and practices necessary to reach this goal, was 
released. Since then, we have been actively implementing the 
recommendations included in the report, and States

are reviewing data and submitting numerical targets for adoption and 
guardianships to be completed by the year 2002. The Office of Personnel 
Management has published a guide for Federal workers interested in 
adopting, and the Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to 
make the first annual Adoption 2002 Excellence awards later this year. 
Finally, the Congress is considering historic legislation that would 
provide the resources and statutory authority for financial incentives, 
technical assistance, and improved judicial decision-making for children in 
foster care.

    As a Nation, we have before us an opportunity to make a real 
difference in the lives of our most vulnerable children. We must 
continue to promote public awareness of the need for adoptive families 
and to help families make the choice to provide loving, permanent homes 
for the many children who otherwise must continue to wait. We must also 
strengthen our support of those families who do choose to adopt. As we 
observe National Adoption Month, we reaffirm our commitment to adoption 
as a new beginning for thousands of children, and we celebrate the many 
American families who have embraced these children by accepting the 
rewards and responsibilities of adoption.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 
1997 as National Adoption Month. I urge all Americans to observe this 
month with appropriate programs and activities to honor adoptive 
families and to participate in efforts to find permanent homes for 
waiting children.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this third day of 
November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., November 5, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on November 4, and it was published in the Federal Register on 
November 6.

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