ADMINISTRATION SUPPORT FOR THE ADOPTION OPTION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP92G00017R000800170001-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 23, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 12, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: July 24, 1989
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified and Aooroved For Release 2014/03/12
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SUSPENSE
Date
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ER 89-3040
Executive Secretary
27 Jul '89
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Declassified and Approved For Release 2014/03/12 : CIA-RDP92G00017R000800170001-1
ER 89-3040
THE WHITE HOUSr--
WAS H I NG TO N
July 24, 1989
MEMORANDUM FOR HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES
SUBJECT: Administration Support for the Adoption Option
The foundation of our nation is the American family, protector of
our most valuable yet vulnerable resource -- our children.
Sadly, thousands of American children do not have a family to
call their own. They are children who may have been abandoned,
neglected or abused, who have seen their childhood unfairly
snatched away. We can give them back their childhood, simply by
finding them a permanent adoptive family. This, I believe, is an
effort worthy of our greatest commitment.
Everyone wins in adoption. It is time for the leaders of the
Federal workforce to ensure that our government is pro-
adoption. Adoption works -- for children who need homes, for
people hoping to become parents, and for women facing a crisis
pregnancy.
As the leaders of the Federal civilian and military labor force,
we have the opportunity to positively affect the lives of
Federal employees and to provide leadership for our entire
nation. I am directing you and your staff to consider ways to
provide such leadership to advance the adoption alternative.
Adoption can help to address some of our most pressing issues:
teenage pregnancy, foster care, infertility, and welfare
dependency. Most importantly, adoption provides a home and love
to children who may have neither.
Consider just a few facts:
o An estimated 15 percent of American couples of reproductive
age are infertile.
o About 60,000 children are adopted every year in this
country. Of these, 10,000 come from foreign countries.
o Right now, nearly 30,000 American children are legally
available for adoption. Some of them are school-age, some
are physically or emotionally handicapped, some are members
of sibling groups that need to be placed in the same home,
and some are minority children.
-/
o Each year nearly 25,000 American babies are given life and
the chance to be loved when their mothers chdose adoption
over abortion or unwanted parenthood, yet the opportunity to
consider adoption is often denied to pregnant women. I am
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told that as much as 40 percent of pregnancy counseling does
not even mention adoption.
I have instructed my Domestic Policy Council to develop a
Presidential adoption initiative, and that process is well under
way. To complement this effort, I am asking you to develop
methods for supporting the adoption plans and needs of your
employees and for promoting adoption among your workforce. Here
are just a few ideas:
o Use agency resources for employees who are considering
adopting, who have adopted children, or who have a family
member facing a crisis pregnancy. Employee Assistance
Programs (EAPs) may be the most appropriate resource.
o Begin planning now for agency-wide celebration and
observance of National Adoption Week (Thanksgiving Week).
Your agency's focus could be upon local children in need of
adoptive homes.
o Ensure that all employee supervisors are as flexible as
possible regarding the adoption-related leave needs of
employees. This might include incremental (hourly) leave
needed to meet with adoption agency personnel or longer
periods of leave to care for a newly adopted child.
o Feature adoption articles in agency newsletters. These
might include stories about employees who have adopted
special needs children, infants, or children from other
countries, as well as a regular column picturing a local
waiting child.
I have instructed both the Department of Health and Human
Services and the Office of Personnel Management to work with you
in implementing these and other ideas.
A commitment to adoption is one we can all share. With just a
small effort, we can help our own employees and, just as
importantly, we can provide national leadership in support of
adoption. Finding loving homes for waiting children is reward
enough.
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