National Foster Care Month, 2013

Proclamation 8968 of April 30, 2013

National Foster Care Month, 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

As a Nation, we have no task more important than
ensuring our children grow up healthy and safe. It is a
promise we owe to the hundreds of thousands of youth in
foster care--boys and girls who too often go without
the love, protection, and stability of a permanent
family. This month, we recommit to giving them that
critical support, and we recognize the foster parents
and professionals who work every day to lift up the
children in their care toward a bright, productive
future.

Thanks to those efforts, the number of young people in
foster care is falling and fewer children are waiting
for adoption. But even now, more than 400,000 kids are
looking for permanency with caring parents. Many are
struggling to find the meaningful, long-term
relationships that will help them transition into
adulthood. Some young men and women are aging out of
the system without a permanent home, making it harder
for them to get a good education, find a job, and build
a better life.

To give foster youth the support they need, Americans
in every community are stepping up to serve. They are
mentors, teachers, faith leaders, caseworkers,
advocates, family members--individuals dedicated to
making a difference. As they lend their strength to our
most vulnerable children, my Administration will
continue to invest in services that strengthen the
foster care system and encourage adoption. We will keep
working to ensure every qualified caregiver has the
chance to be an adoptive or foster parent. And we will
support programs that help increase permanency, reduce
rates of re-entry into foster care, and address the
issues that bring young people in the child welfare
system in the first place.

Whether as a friend, a role model, or a guardian, any
of us can be a supportive adult for a child in need. As
we honor the countless Americans who are answering that
call to action, let us mark this month by showing
children and youth in foster care the best our country
has to offer.

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 2013 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 at a most challenging time.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord two
thousand thirteen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
seventh.