Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 103 Part 3.djvu/1100

 103 STAT. 3168 PROCLAMATION 6076—NOV. 21, 1989 support the American family. Our children's future, and the future of the United States, depend on it. The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 117 (Public Law 101-111), has designated the week of November 19 through November 25, 1989, and the week of November 18 through November 24, 1990, as "National Family Week" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of these weeks. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the weeks of November 19, 1989, and November 18, 1990, as National Family Week. I invite the Governors of the several States, the chief officials of local governments, and the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate cere- monies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-first day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty- nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth. '•'''^ '" " GEORGE BUSH Proclamation 6076 of November 21, 1989 -i ^ > National Adoption Week, 1989 ^^ ^' By the President of the United States of America '•'-' .,*.••-, A Proclamation During this week of Thanksgiving, most of us will gather with our fami- lies to offer thanks to God, not only for His gift of life but also for the many blessings we enjoy as individuals and as a Nation. Tragically, however, thousands of American children do not have a family to call their own Uiis Thanksgiving. These are children waiting to be adopted. Adoption is a generous and loving act that benefits everyone involved: the little ones who need a permanent home, the couples hoping to become parents, and the young women who face a crisis pregnancy. Each year, many babies are given the chance to be loved when their mothers choose adoption over abortion. Each year, some 60,000 chil- dren in the United States are adopted. However, some 30,000 children who are legally available for adoption still wait in foster care for a family of their own. Many of these are children with special needs— children who have physical, mental, or emotional disabilities; older children; minority children; and children with siblings who need to be adopted by the same family. All of these children, however, have a wealth of love to share with their adoptive families. Encouraging their adoption is worthy of our greatest commitment. Adoption provides a loving family and a lasting home to children who may have neither. It also can help address some of the most pressing issues facing our Nation today; issues such as teen pregnancy, welfare dependency, drug addiction, and child abuse. Many Americans longing for a child are willing to adopt, yet they, too, wait. We must eliminate the public and private barriers to adoption op-

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