Proclamation - Adoption Month

Statement

Proclamation - Adoption Month

All children deserve to grow up in a safe and nurturing environment where they can benefit from lasting and positive relationships with caring adults.

A stable home environment is one of the most critical influences in a child's life, and children with caring, involved parents help their children thrive by encouraging them to aim high, work hard and make good choices that will lead to healthy and fulfilling lives.

We honor the parents who open their hearts and homes and help provide love and stability for young people. We also greatly appreciate the efforts of birth parents, who sacrifice the most intimate bond so that their children might have a better life. By caring for the youngest members of our society, these families enable our children to grow into successful adults and build the future of Hawai‘i.

Throughout November, communities across the nation observe National Adoption Month to raise awareness and encourage citizens to become involved in the lives of these youth - as adoptive parents, volunteers, mentors, employers or in other ways. Our Administration encourages the adoption of young people in need, and we honor the adoptive families who offer children a loving and supportive home.

In Hawai‘i, the State Department of Health and Human Services is committed to enhancing services to better support post-adoption and post-permanency families by connecting children with their birth families prior to an adoption or termination of parental rights. The adoption process within Hawai‘i remains a successful collaboration between DHS, the judiciary system, the State Attorney General's office, private sector partners, other agencies and families who have been willing to welcome children into their homes as members of their families.

This month will also raise awareness of the many children still waiting to be adopted in Hawai‘i and encourage more prospective parents to choose adoption.

THEREFORE, I, LINDA LINGLE, Governor, and I, JAMES R. "DUKE" AIONA, JR., Lieutenant Governor of the State of Hawai‘i, do hereby proclaim November 2007, as

ADOPTION MONTH

in Hawai‘i, and encourage our citizens to support the needs of our state's children with appropriate programs and activities to honor adoptive families and to participate in efforts to find permanent homes for waiting children.
DONE at the State Capitol, in the Executive Chambers, Honolulu, State of Hawai‘i, this sixth day of November 2007.

Linda Lingle
Governor, State of Hawai‘i

James R. "Duke" Aiona, Jr.
Lieutenant Governor, State of Hawai‘i

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