National Adoption Month, 2002

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Part VI

The President

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Proclamation 7619--National Adoption Month, 2002

Proclamation 7620--National American Indian Heritage Month, 2002

Proclamation 7621--National Hospice Month, 2002

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7619 of November 1, 2002

National Adoption Month, 2002

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Every year, thousands of American families are blessed
by adoption. Whether through domestic or international
adoption or through the adoption of children from
foster care, the love of compassionate families
embraces children of all ages and from every
background. During National Adoption Month, we
recognize the heartfelt commitment of these good
citizens, and we renew our pledge to make adoption a
more accessible and positive path for American
families.

Children thrive in loving families where they are
nurtured, comforted, and protected. We are making
important progress in placing children in foster care
with adoptive families; and the overall number of
children being adopted continues to rise. In the past 5
years, adoptions have increased dramatically; and thus
far in 2002, tens of thousands of children have already
been adopted.

Twenty-three States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
received adoption incentive awards in FY 2001 for
increasing the number of children they placed from
foster care into permanent adoptive homes. These
recipients have reinvested their bonuses to help
improve their respective adoption and child welfare
programs. Americans also continue to welcome children
from other countries into their homes through
international adoptions. Last year, families in the
United States adopted over 19,000 children from around
the world.

Despite the progress we have made in increasing our
adoption rate, we still have much work to do. More than
130,000 children, ranging from toddlers to teenagers,
still remain in foster care awaiting adoption. While
foster parents offer temporary essential care, the
children for whom they care need the stability of a
permanent family. It is often challenging to find
families for older children and those children who have
special needs. Yet they deserve a future with a
nurturing family.

To help States promote adoption and support families
who adopt, I signed a tax relief bill last year that
permanently eases the financial burden on families that
adopt children. And in January 2002, I signed into law
a bill to extend and expand the Promoting Safe and
Stable Families Program. Through this legislation, we
are strengthening families by promoting adoption,
offering post-adoptive services to families that adopt,
and providing education and training vouchers to older
adopted children and foster youth.

In July 2002, my Administration launched the
AdoptUSKids national campaign to increase awareness
about adoption and its role in helping all children
reach their full potential. We have also created the
first Federal adoption photo-listing web site devoted
to children awaiting adoption and families who adopt,
www.AdoptUSKids.org. During its first year, the web
site will feature pictures and profiles of more than
6,500 children awaiting adoption, as well as a database
of approved adoptive families. This unique web site
will help to connect children from across the country
with loving adoptive families, and it will also serve
as a great resource for all adoptive families.

On November 23, dozens of communities will gather in
courtrooms across the country to celebrate National
Adoption Day. On this momentous day, thousands of
adoptions will be finalized and celebrated. These
efforts demonstrate our Nation's dedication to ensuring
that every child can thrive in a secure, loving, and
stable home.

Through adoption, Americans can forever change not only
a child's life but also their own. By providing
children in need with the opportunity to grow and
succeed through adoption, we can help them become
confident, compassionate, and successful members of
society.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, 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 2002 as National
Adoption Month. I call on 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
first day of November, in the year of our Lord two
thousand two, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-seventh.

(Presidential Sig.)B