Proclamation 5820 --
National Foster Care Month, 1988
By
the President of the
A
Proclamation
The
family is the indispensable foundation of society; at its best, it performs
tasks that no other entity can hope to duplicate. The family has the primary
responsibility for nurturing children, transmitting our culture, and building
the character traits that make for healthy adults and good citizens. Upon the
strength of the family rests the future of our Nation.
For
a variety of reasons, however, some parents are unable to provide a minimally
acceptable level of care for their children, and temporary or permanent alternative
placement is necessary. National Foster Care Month presents an appropriate
opportunity for all of us -- public officials, business, religious, and
community leaders, and parents alike -- to reflect on the pressures facing
families today and on the need for increased efforts to ensure that abandoned
or abused children have the opportunity to live in healthy, loving homes.
The
emphasis in foster care must be on the well-being of the child, and public
policy must serve to promote alternative placement that represents actual care
and not mere custody. Because the tasks facing foster parents often include
special challenges, such as care of a child who is physically or mentally
handicapped or who has been emotionally or physically abused, the mothers and
fathers whom society qualifies to accept this added responsibility must be held
to a high standard. To accomplish this goal, many more happy and successful
families must be willing to step forward and to offer to share heart and home
with children desperately longing for both. The aim of all foster care must be
the establishment for the child of a sense of permanence and belonging.
National
Foster Care Month also provides an opportunity to offer public thanks for the
sacrifices and dedication of the many foster parents and concerned
professionals working in the field of foster care. Their jobs require
extraordinary patience and love, and their rewards are often reaped only years
after their primary labor is done -- when the child is grown and fully appreciates
what has been done for him or her, or when society pauses from its hectic rush
forward to recognize the good they have accomplished.
Finally,
this month-long observance calls us to deeper thought on the role of values and
ideas in the very formation of families. For if the goal of
child care is the creation of a warm, stable environment, it is self-evident
that the best place to start is in the pursuit of strong and stable marriages.
If the need for foster care is not to outstrip our society's capacity for
remedial action, it is critical to focus more efforts on policies that promote
and protect the triad of mother, father, and child as the harmonious chord God
intended for them to be.
To
demonstrate our esteem and appreciation for those who devotedly and selflessly
share their lives with foster children, the Congress, by Senate Joint
Resolution 59, has designated the month of May 1988 as ``National Foster Care
Month'' and has requested the President to issue a proclamation in its observance.
Now,
Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the
In
Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this tenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the
Ronald
Reagan
[Filed with the Office
of the Federal Register,