[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 85 (Tuesday, May 4, 2010)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 23557-23558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-10572]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 75, No. 85 / Tuesday, May 4, 2010 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 23557]]
Proclamation 8505 of April 28, 2010
National Foster Care Month, 2010
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Nearly a half-million children and youth are in foster
care in America, all entering the system through no
fault of their own. During National Foster Care Month,
we recognize the promise of children and youth in
foster care, as well as former foster youth. We also
celebrate the professionals and foster parents who
demonstrate the depth and kindness of the human heart.
Children and youth in foster care deserve the happiness
and joy every child should experience through family
life and a safe, loving home. Families provide children
with unconditional love, stability, trust, and the
support to grow into healthy, productive adults.
Unfortunately, too many foster youth reach the age at
which they must leave foster care and enter adulthood
without the support of a permanent family.
Much work remains to reach the goal of permanence for
every child, and my Administration has supported States
that increased the number of children adopted out of
foster care, providing over $35 million in 2009 through
the Adoption Incentives program. We are also committed
to meeting the developmental, educational, and health-
related needs of children and youth in foster care. The
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provided a
significant increase in funding for the Title IV-E
adoption and foster care assistance program. States can
use these funds to ensure those placed in foster care
will enter a safe and stable environment.
In addition, we are implementing the Fostering
Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act.
This law promotes permanency and improved outcomes for
foster youth through support for kinship care and
adoption, support for older youth, direct access to
Federal resources for Indian tribes, coordinated health
benefits, improved educational stability and
opportunities, and adoption incentives and assistance.
Former foster youth will also benefit from the
Affordable Care Act, which, beginning in 2014, will
ensure Medicaid coverage for them in every State.
This month, caring foster parents and professionals
across our Nation will celebrate the triumphs of
children and youth in foster care as they work to
remove barriers to reaching a permanent family.
Federal, State, and local government agencies,
communities, and individuals all have a role to play as
well. Together, we can ensure that young people in
foster care have the opportunities and encouragement
they need to realize their full potential.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, 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 2010 as National
Foster Care Month. I call upon all Americans to observe
this month with appropriate programs and activities to
honor and support young people in foster care, and to
recognize the committed adults who work on their behalf
each day.
[[Page 23558]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2010-10572
Filed 5-3-10; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-W0-P