National Foster Care Month, 2016

Proclamation 9432 of April 28, 2016

National Foster Care Month, 2016

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The success of our country tomorrow depends on the
well-being of our children today. As a Nation, we have
a duty to empower each child so they have the same
sense of promise and possibility as any other young
person no matter who they are, where they come from, or
what their circumstances are. Foster youth deserve the
security and strong support structures they need to
achieve their dreams. During National Foster Care
Month, we lift up our Nation's foster children,
celebrate the selfless men and women who embrace
children in the foster care system, and we recommit to
helping more children find permanency so they can feel
stable, grounded, and free to fulfill their limitless
potential.

With open hearts, families and professionals across
America work each day to give foster youth the
resources, warmth, and care they need. Over 400,000
children remain in the foster care system, and tens of
thousands of youth age out of foster care before they
find their forever family. Only half of children in
foster care complete high school by age 18, and less
than 5 percent graduate college. Young people who age
out of foster care without a permanent home are often
at higher risk of entering the criminal justice system,
and they can face greater challenges to completing an
education, obtaining high-quality health care, and
securing gainful employment. We also know kids are
better off when raised by loving families, not
institutions. These difficult outcomes are often
exaggerated further when children are placed in group
homes.

I am committed to preventing youth from falling into
these situations. I have proposed allowing child
welfare agencies to use Federal funds to provide
critical services and shelter to foster youth who have
aged out of the system until they are 23. My
Administration is also working to reduce abuse and
neglect by focusing resources on strengthening families
so children stay out of foster care in the first place.
Children living in foster care are more likely than
other children to be overprescribed medication for
social-emotional and mental health disorders. That is
why my Administration is encouraging greater use of
evidence-based screening, assessment, and treatment of
trauma and mental health disorders for kids in foster
care. And because every child deserves access to
quality, affordable health insurance, the Affordable
Care Act requires each State to extend Medicaid
coverage to foster children who have aged out of the
foster care system until the age of 26.

Children grow to become their best selves when they are
surrounded by supportive families. Caretakers support
foster youth and help them see a future of greater
promise and hope. Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled
that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality,
giving more kids in foster care the opportunity to be
part of a loving family. My Administration will
continue fighting to ensure eligible and qualified
caretakers have the chance to become an adoptive or
foster parent regardless of race, religion, gender
identity, or sexual orientation. The commitment and
dependability of a family can provide foster youth with
the confidence to write and control their own destiny.
Family is the bedrock of the American story, and we

must do everything we can to support all young people
so they can be free from harm, healthy, and ready to
chart the course of our Nation's unwritten history.

When we create environments for all young people to
grow and flourish and safely live as who they are
regardless of race, background, religion, sexual
orientation or gender identity our country is stronger.
This month, and every month, let us pay tribute to the
children in foster care and the dedicated parents and
professionals who tirelessly work to shape their lives.
And as a country, let us embrace the spirit that every
child matters and continue working to provide all of
our daughters and sons with an equal chance to lead
productive and fulfilling lives, limited by nothing but
the power of their imaginations and the scope of their
dreams.

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 2016 as National
Foster Care Month. I call upon all Americans to observe
this month by taking time to help youth in foster care
and recognizing the commitment of all who touch their
lives.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand sixteen, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and fortieth.