My Proclamation On National Foster Care For The Health Of Society Month

My Proclamation On 

National Foster Care For The Health Of Society Month

BEVERLY TRAN

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

April 29, 2011

Presidential Proclamation--National Foster Care Month

      Progress in America can be measured by the opportunities we pass on to our children.  For nearly half a million youth in foster care across our country, the best path to success we can give them is the chance to experience a loving home where they can feel secure and thrive.  During National Foster Care Month, we renew our commitment to ensuring a brighter future for foster youth, and we celebrate the selfless individuals who make a meaningful difference in their lives.

Progress in America can be measured by the legacies we pass on to our children.  For the rest of our children living at or below the poverty level across our country, the best path to success we can give them is the chance to experience a quality of life where individuals can feel secure and thrive without fear of removal of their children for being without a health care, a job, affordable and decent housing, and the opportunity to access a viable education.  During National Foster Care For The Health Of Society Month, we should all renew our commitment to ensuring a brighter further for all children and celebrate the selfless individuals who make a meaningful difference in the their lives by reporting fraud.

      Young people in foster care are in the system through no fault of their own, and each of our Nation’s children deserves a stable home and a devoted family.  Strong support structures provide children with the environment needed to learn, grow, and reach their greatest potential.  Permanence is critical to the future success of foster youth and must be a key component of foster care initiatives.

Young people in foster care are in the system through the failure of this nation to re-invest in the re-weaving and preservation of the social safety net.  Strong and persistent revenue-maximization schemes and racketeering child welfare organizations have consistently lobbied and created the political atmosphere for the disintegration of basic civil rights of due process and the right to peaceably assemble as a family, be it through consanguinity and/or affinity.  Fraud enforcement is critical to the future of success of humanity.

      My Administration is committed to achieving security for every child and supporting adolescents in foster care as they transition to adulthood.  The Permanency Innovations Initiative, spearheaded by the Department of Health and Human Services, is providing support to public-private partnerships focused on decreasing the number of children in long-term foster care.  Over the next 5 years, this program will invest $100 million in new intervention strategies to help foster youth move into permanent homes, test new approaches to reducing time spent in foster care placements, and remove the most serious barriers to finding lasting, loving environments.  Over 110,000 children in foster care today are waiting to be adopted.  Across America, there are families who need these children as much as these children need families.  I encourage those interested in adopting a child in need of a home to explore the life-changing resources available at www.AdoptUSKids.org.

I am committed to achieving a culture of accountability and transparency in child welfare to ensure that every child has an established right to transition to adulthood safely and securely, free from pain and suffering.  Across America, individuals are encouraged to stand up and speak out as to what their needs are to invest in the best interests of the future of society, specifically the children, to develop a mature, taxpaying, productive adult.  I encourage those interested in reporting fraud, waste and abuse in child welfare to state and federal officials and to explore whistleblower options at http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/hotline/.

      We are also investing in the health and well-being of our young people in foster care.  Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, we have significantly increased funding for the Title IV-E adoption and foster care assistance program to provide safe and stable out-of-home care for children.  As a result of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act I signed into law last year, all children enrolled in foster care automatically qualify for free meals in all Department of Agriculture child nutrition programs.  Additionally, beginning in 2014, the Affordable Care Act will require States to extend Medicaid coverage up to age 26 for all youth who have aged out of the foster care system.

We need to commend and support the never-ending work of the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General partnership to end and prevent fraud in child welfare as we know it, or as I have had to opportunity to report it.

      As a Nation, we all have a responsibility to remain persistent in the charge to provide the best care possible for children when they cannot remain in their own homes.  During National Foster Care Month, we recognize the efforts of foster families, social workers, faith-based and community organizations, and others that are improving the lives of young people in foster care across our country, and I encourage all Americans to partake in efforts to serve these children in the year ahead.

As a Nation, we all have a responsibility to remain persistent in the change to provide for the building of the best communities for children so they can remain connected to their legacies.  During National Foster Care For The Health Of Society Month, we should recognize the need to revisit how we view individuals who are affected by the economic changes in society and take substantial strides in ameliorating the negative stigmas and effects of poverty.

      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 2011 as National Foster Care Month.  I call upon all Americans to observe this month by taking an active role in activities across our country that recognize not only these cherished children and youth, but also the commitment of so many that touch their lives at a most challenging time.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BEVERLY TRAN, An Original Source, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the United States Code Title 31 Subtitle III Chapter 37, Section 3729, do hereby proclaim May 2011 as National Foster Care For The Health Of Society Month.  I call upon all Americans and anyone of interest, any degree of consanguinity or affinity, around the world to observe this month with whistleblower programs and fraud reporting activities that help prevent child welfare fraud in health care programs to re-invest in society and to create, once again, safe, stable and healthy environments.

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

N WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand in a cybersignature this twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirthy-fifth.

      BARACK OBAMA

      /s/BEVERLY TRAN