National Adoption Month, 2013

Proclamation 9049 of October 31, 2013

National Adoption Month, 2013

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Every young person deserves the chance to learn and
grow under the care of a loving family. Across our
Nation, adoptive families give that chance to over a
million children and teenagers. During National
Adoption Month, we celebrate these families and stand
alongside every child still looking for the warmth and
stability of a permanent home.

Today, nearly 400,000 American children are in foster
care, and each year, thousands age out of care without
the security that comes from a permanent family or a
place to call home. On November 23, National Adoption
Day will offer a sense of hope to children waiting for
adoptive parents. As we observe this day, courts across
our country will open their doors to finalize adoptions
that move young people out of foster care.

My Administration has worked to simplify adoption laws;
reduce the amount of time young children go without
parents; and ensure adoption rights for all qualified
couples and individuals. We are calling for an end to
discriminatory barriers that keep children from loving
and stable homes. And we are working across all levels
of government to eliminate roadblocks to adoption and
encourage cooperation between adoption advocates,
private organizations, and community and faith-based
groups. This January, I was proud to sign legislation
to permanently extend the Adoption Tax Credit. And to
protect the young people of every nation, I signed the
Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act. This
law will promote safe and lawful adoptions by setting
Federal standards for all adoption service providers,
and it will provide greater safeguards to both parents
and children.

This month, we celebrate adopted children, teenagers,
and their diverse families. We work to give more young
people permanent families and promising futures. And we
encourage our friends and neighbors to open their
hearts and their homes to children in need.

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 November 2013 as
National Adoption Month. I encourage all Americans to
observe this month by answering the call to find a
permanent and caring family for every child in need,
and by supporting the families who care for them.

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