[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 17077-17078]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-8820]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 66 / Wednesday, April 7, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 17077]]


                Proclamation 7178 of April 1, 1999

                
National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Children bring happiness to our lives and hope to our 
                future; they are our greatest joy and our most 
                important responsibility. Whether as loving parents or 
                concerned citizens, we must do everything we can to 
                nurture them, protect them, raise them in an atmosphere 
                of love and respect, and create for them an environment 
                in which they can grow into healthy, well-adjusted, and 
                productive adults.

                Tragically, however, statistics confirm that not all of 
                America's children enjoy the benefits of a safe, loving 
                home. Instead, hundreds of thousands of children each 
                year suffer abuse and neglect, most often at the hands 
                of their own parents or other family members. The 
                horrors of physical or emotional trauma deny these 
                young people their childhood, and our abused children 
                carry the psychological scars of their mistreatment 
                throughout their lives. Worse yet, for some--
                particularly those under 3 years old--the abuse they 
                endure is fatal.

                My Administration is committed to promoting effective 
                policies and innovative programs to protect children 
                from harm and to mitigate the stresses on families that 
                can ignite violence in the home. We have implemented a 
                comprehensive agenda that includes increased funding at 
                the State level to ensure that maternal and child 
                health programs are expanded to include child 
                protection, family preservation, and support; we have 
                released prevention grants for community-based family 
                services in all 50 States; and we have worked with the 
                Congress to pass the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 
                1997, the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act 
                of 1994, and the National Child Protection Act of 1993, 
                all of which support child abuse prevention efforts in 
                State and local jurisdictions.

                Yet government programs alone cannot prevent child 
                abuse. As a society that cares about the health and 
                well-being of our children, we must forge caring, 
                cooperative alliances that include government as a 
                partner, but also involve schools, community 
                organizations, businesses, religious groups, and 
                especially parents and family members themselves--
                indeed, everyone who has a stake in the future of 
                American families. During this special month, as we 
                focus our Nation's attention on the disturbing problem 
                of child abuse, let us remember that behind every 
                heartbreaking statistic is a child whose health, 
                happiness, and future depend on our ability to 
                recognize the signs of abuse and our refusal to 
                tolerate abuse in our homes and communities.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, 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 April 1999 as National Child 
                Abuse Prevention Month. I call upon all Americans to 
                observe this month by demonstrating our gratitude to 
                those who work to keep our children safe, and by taking 
                action in our own communities to make them healthier 
                places in which children can grow and thrive.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-nine, and of

[[Page 17078]]

                the Independence of the United States of America the 
                two hundred and twenty-third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-8820
Filed 4-6-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P