[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 44 (Monday, November 2, 1998)]
[Pages 2178-2179]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7145--National Adoption Month, 1998

October 29, 1998

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Every child deserves a safe and loving family. But each year, 
thousands of American children grow up without such families, lacking 
the stability and sense of permanency they need to thrive. More than 
100,000 such children--orphaned, abandoned, abused, or unable to remain 
at home for other serious reasons--will need homes in the next few 
years. Although foster care provides a good supportive temporary 
environment for these children, adoption can provide them with the 
sustained love and care of permanent families and can give adults the 
chance to open their hearts and homes to a child they will cherish.
    My Administration has worked hard both to improve the experience of 
children awaiting adoption and to increase their chances of adoption. 
Last November, I signed into law the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 
1997, which made sweeping changes in our Nation's child welfare system. 
This legislation underscores the importance of safety and permanency for 
children awaiting adoption and focuses on the urgency of finding 
adoptive families. In addition to achieving passage of this landmark 
legislation, we have made adoption easier by barring discrimination by 
race or ethnicity, by providing a tax credit for newly adoptive parents, 
and by ensuring that adoptive parents are covered by the Family and 
Medical Leave Act.
    We must strengthen such efforts if we are to meet our national goal 
of doubling the number of adoptions by the year 2002. In addition, while 
adoption in America has increased in recent years, more than 25,000 
young Americans each year reach the age of 18 and leave the child 
welfare system without permanent homes or families. This statistic tells 
us that we still have much to do. We must not only secure the placement 
of young children in families, but also move aggressively to place in 
permanent families our older children, as well. I have directed the 
Federal Government to work with State and local governments to continue 
identifying and removing the barriers that prevent young people from 
moving from our child welfare system into adoptive families.
    Working together--policymakers, government officials, family welfare 
agencies, religious and community organizations, and families--we can 
make a difference in the lives of thousands of children. My 
Administration will continue to support efforts to recruit and 
strengthen adoptive families and to shorten the time it takes to move 
children from foster care to permanent homes; to reduce the backlogs in 
our Nation's juvenile and family court systems; and to promote strong, 
supportive adoption programs that meet the needs of every child.
    During National Adoption Month, let us recommit ourselves to the 
goal of finding a safe, permanent, and loving home for every child in 
need. Let us also honor the many caring families across our Nation who 
have opened their arms and their hearts to a child through adoption. By 
making such a profound and loving commitment to our Nation's most 
vulnerable children, they are also making a lasting investment in 
America's future.
    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 
1998 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, loving homes 
for waiting children.
    In Witness Whereof,  I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth 
day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-
eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two 
hundred and twenty-third.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., November 2, 
1998]

[[Page 2179]]

Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on 
November 3.