PHOENIX—Governor Katie Hobbs has proclaimed June 2024 as Arizona Family Reunification Month, with a special celebration on June 15 known as Family Reunification Day. The proclamation recognizes the resilience of parents and communities in overcoming challenges to reunite children in out-of-home care with their biological families. By acknowledging and celebrating these accomplishments, Arizona aims to raise awareness about the crucial importance of family reunification and encourage the involvement of child welfare agencies, courts, schools, businesses, media, faith communities, and civic and service organizations to join in commemorating Arizona Family Reunification Month.
View text of the proclamation below
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WHEREAS, all children need the care, love, security, and stability of family unity, including with parents, siblings, grandparents, and other extended family members, to provide a solid foundation for personal growth, development, and maturity; and
WHEREAS, whenever possible and without compromising child safety, keeping Arizona families together is an important goal for our communities, and is the best option for a permanent, state, and loving home for many children in foster care; and
WHEREAS, reunification takes work, commitment, and the investment of time and resources by parents, family members, social workers, foster parents, service providers, attorneys, courts, educators, and the community; and
WHEREAS, approximately 50% of Arizona families reunify when their dependency case is closed and these families want to remain reunified, which emphasizes the significance of family reunification and the importance of ongoing support to reunified families to promote safe, stable homes and communities; and
WHEREAS, Family Reunification Day is an opportunity to celebrate families who have successfully overcome the challenges that brought their children into out-of-home care; and
WHEREAS, Family Reunification Month acknowledges and honors the hard work of families and communities that came together to safely and successfully reunify, and to raise awareness about the importance of family reunification and supporting reunified families.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Katie Hobbs, Governor of the State of Arizona, do hereby proclaim June 2024 as
ARIZONA FAMILY REUNIFICATION MONTH
and June 15, 2024 as
ARIZONA FAMILY REUNIFICATION DAY
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused
to be affixed the Great Seal of the State of Arizona
GOVERNOR
DONE at the Capitol in Phoenix on this twentieth day of May in the
Year Two Thousand and Twenty-Four, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the Two Hundred and Forty-Eighth.
ATTEST:
SECRETARY OF STATE
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