For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
November 22, 2002
National Family Week, 2002
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Families provide a loving environment where children can flourish;
and they help ensure that cultural traditions and timeless values are
passed on to future generations. During National Family Week, we
reaffirm the importance of families as a vital source of strength,
confidence, and compassion for all of our citizens.
Strong families play a critical role in developing the character of
our Nation. They teach children important standards of conduct such as
accepting responsibility, respecting others, and distinguishing the
difference between right and wrong. By helping America's youth to grow
into mature, thoughtful, and caring citizens, families help make our
communities and our Nation safer and more civilized.
Raising a child requires sacrifice, commitment, and time; and we
must expand our efforts to strengthen and empower families so that they
can prepare children more effectively for the challenges of adulthood.
We know that by helping couples to build and sustain strong, two-parent
families, we will contribute to the well-being of our children and the
strength of our society. Many single parents, grandparents, and others
also raise their children in difficult circumstances, and these
dedicated individuals deserve our respect and support.
My Administration is firmly committed to helping our Nation's youth
reach their full potential; and one of the most important ways to do
this is by strengthening America's families. Earlier this year, I
signed bipartisan legislation to expand the Promoting Safe and Stable
Families Program, which provides States with vital resources to help
families stay together and to promote adoption. The Program seeks to
prevent child abuse and neglect, avoid removing children from their
homes, support family reunification services, and help those children
who
are unable to return home by providing crucial adoption and
post-adoptive services. These important resources benefit families
across our Nation and hold the promise of a bright future for countless
young people.
My welfare reform agenda also will strengthen families. We plan on
continuing to provide historically high levels of support for childcare
and child support enforcement. And we will continue to encourage
strong marriages and two-parent married families as a worthy policy
goal.
No marriage or family is perfect. But through education and
counseling programs that our faith-based, charitable, and government
communities can provide, we will support couples as they work to build
and sustain healthy marriages and strive to provide a better quality of
life for their children. By promoting responsible child-rearing and
strong families, my Administration will work towards the goal that
every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe and loving home.
As families come together to celebrate this Thanksgiving, I
encourage every member of a family in America to recognize the
important role every other family member plays in making their lives
whole and more complete. And as we give thanks for the love,
commitment, and encouragement our families provide, we must recommit
ourselves to strengthen our Nation by strengthening our families in
ways that government never can.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States
of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution
and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 24 through
November 30, 2002, as National Family Week. I invite the States,
communities, and people of the United States to join together in
observing this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities to honor
our Nation's families.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second
day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand two, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-seventh.
GEORGE W. BUSH
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