SFOR's limited and focused mission is to consolidate the peace that IFOR successfully established and maintained.

We can't afford pessimism.

I have formally approved NATO's new operation plan for the Stabilization Force (SFOR) that will succeed the NATO-led Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia after December 20.

At the same time, our European allies are sharing the responsibility for building long-term stability.

We will win the battle against HIV, but to do so we must stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight.

This strategy represents an important milestone in the history of the fight to defeat this epidemic.

Peace will not come in the presence of violence; it must come with the absence of violence.

I know we can do better.

No child should be trapped in the limbo of foster care, no child should be uncertain about what the words 'family' or 'parents' or 'home' mean.

Adoption must be a national concern throughout the year.

I am committed to giving the children waiting in our Nation's foster care system what every child in America deserves—loving parents and a healthy, stable home.

The goal for every child in our Nation's public welfare system is permanency in a safe and stable home.

I believe we should increase the number of children who are adopted or permanently placed from the public foster care system each year toward the goal of at least doubling that number by the year 2002.

We must work tirelessly to make sure that every boy and girl of America who is up for adoption has a family waiting out to reach him or her.

I can think of no better way to fulfill the promise of this season than to bring a child into a family and a family to a child.

Today, therefore, I direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services…to report to me within 60 days on actions to be taken to move children more rapidly from foster care to permanent homes.

Returning home is not an option for about 100,000 of the over 450,000 children in the Nation's foster care system.

No child should be in foster care for one day longer than he or she needs to be.