Governor Proclaims National Reunification Month 2024

NATIONAL REUNIFICATION MONTH

2024

BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA

A PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, foster care is intended to be a short-term intervention for children who need the safety and security of an out-of-home placement; the preferred outcome for these children is to safely reunify with their families; and

WHEREAS, 1,401 children in 2023 successfully reunified with their families in North Carolina; and

WHEREAS, authentic, meaningful collaboration with families involved with child welfare, courts, service providers, and community members is vital to support the reunification of children and families; and

WHEREAS, research shows when children can safely return to their families, they are more likely to succeed in school and social settings, experience better mental health outcomes, and maintain connections to extended family and cultural identities; and

WHEREAS, the families who overcome an array of challenges of separation to reunify successfully should be supported and celebrated; and

WHEREAS, there are numerous individuals, communities, and public and private organizations working to increase public awareness of the need to support children, youth, and families on the path to reunification; and

WHEREAS, foster, adoptive and kinship parents are the most effective resource to encourage reunification by extending their role beyond supporting the children in their care to supporting the children’s whole family; and

WHEREAS, the State of North Carolina encourages service, civic, and religious organizations, as well as child welfare agencies, courts, schools, businesses, and individuals, to join in commemorating National Reunification Month with appropriate ceremonies and activities that recognize the importance of supporting our families and communities;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, ROY COOPER, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim June, 2024, as “NATIONAL REUNIFICATION MONTH” in North Carolina, and commend its observance to all citizens.

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Roy Cooper

Governor

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twelfth day of June in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.