[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 194 (Thursday, October 7, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 54757-54758]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-26380]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 194 / Thursday, October 7, 1999 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 54757]]


                Proclamation 7232 of October 1, 1999

                
Child Health Day, 1999

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                As America's children begin their exciting journey into 
                the 21st century, one of the greatest gifts we can give 
                them is a healthy start; and we should recognize that 
                the well-being of our young people includes both their 
                physical and mental health.

                We have already made great strides in addressing 
                children's physical health care needs through the 
                Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), which funds 
                State efforts to provide affordable health insurance to 
                millions of uninsured children. Sadly, however, as many 
                as one in ten American children and adolescents today 
                may have behavioral or mental health problems; and 
                parents, teachers, and health care professionals need 
                to realize that even very young children can experience 
                serious clinical depression. The majority of children 
                who commit suicide are profoundly depressed, and the 
                majority of parents whose children took their own lives 
                did not recognize that depression until it was too 
                late.

                My Administration is working to increase children's 
                access to mental health care and to help communities 
                expand counseling, mentoring, and mental health 
                services in our schools. In addition, we fought to 
                ensure that funding for CHIP contains a strong mental 
                health benefits component. While there is no substitute 
                for parents becoming and remaining involved in their 
                children's lives, we must give families the tools they 
                need to meet the challenges they face.

                Perhaps the most vital step we can take to ensure that 
                every child reaches his or her full potential is to 
                fight the stigma that prevents so many Americans with 
                mental illness from making the most of their lives. In 
                June of this year, under the leadership of Tipper Gore, 
                we convened the first-ever White House Conference on 
                Mental Health, where, among other important issues, we 
                discussed how to reach out to troubled young people and 
                put them on the path to mental and emotional health. 
                The first and most crucial effort we can make is to 
                talk honestly about mental illness and begin to dispel 
                the myths that surround it. I am pleased that the 
                Surgeon General and Mrs. Gore have committed to a major 
                new campaign with these goals in mind. With powerful 
                public service announcements and strong partners in the 
                private sector, we can reach millions of Americans with 
                a simple but life-changing message: Mental illness is 
                nothing to be ashamed of, but bias and discrimination 
                shame us all.

                To acknowledge the importance of our children's health, 
                the Congress, by joint resolution approved May 18, 
                1928, as amended (36 U.S.C. 143), has called for the 
                designation of the first Monday in October as ``Child 
                Health Day'' and has requested the President to issue a 
                proclamation in observance of this day.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday, 
                October 4, 1999, as Child Health Day. I call upon 
                families, schools, communities, and governments to 
                dedicate themselves to protecting the health and well-
                being of all our children.

[[Page 54758]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                first day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-nine, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
                fourth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 99-26380
Filed 10-6-99; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P