[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 5, 2000)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 17983-17984]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-8570]


 
 
                         Presidential Documents 
 
 

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 66 / Wednesday, April 5, 2000 / 
Presidential Documents  

 ___________________________________________________________________

[[Page 17983]]


                Proclamation 7285 of March 31, 2000

                
National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2000

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Children are our link to the future and our hope for a 
                better tomorrow. Within a few short years, we will look 
                to today's children for the vision, strength, 
                creativity, and leadership to guide our Nation through 
                the challenges of this new century. If they are to grow 
                into healthy, happy adults and responsible citizens, we 
                must provide our children with the love, nurturing, and 
                protection they need and deserve.

                However, many of America's children are not safe, even 
                in their own homes. The statistics are staggering. 
                Every year, there are nearly one million reported 
                incidents of child abuse; and even more disturbing, 
                more than 2,000 of these incidents result in the 
                child's death. Whether suffering neglect, harsh 
                physical punishment, sexual abuse, or psychological 
                trauma, the children who survive will carry the scars 
                of their abuse for the rest of their lives.

                We now know that there are a variety of risk factors 
                that contribute to child abuse and neglect--including 
                parental substance abuse, lack of parenting skills and 
                knowledge, domestic violence, or extreme stress--and 
                there are practical measures and programs we can use to 
                mitigate such factors. Social service providers can 
                offer substance abuse programs for adults with 
                children; schools can offer educational programs to 
                teach parenting skills to teen mothers or instruct 
                children on how to protect themselves from sexual 
                predators; faith organizations can offer respite care 
                for parents of children with special needs; and 
                employers can introduce family-friendly policies, from 
                child care to parental leave to flexible work 
                schedules, to reduce the stress on working families.

                Keeping children safe is a community responsibility, 
                and prevention must be a community task. Every segment 
                of society must be involved, including health and law 
                enforcement professionals, schools, businesses, the 
                media, government agencies, community and faith 
                organizations, and especially parents themselves. 
                Teachers and physicians need to recognize the symptoms 
                of child abuse; parents need to ask for help in 
                overcoming addictions or controlling violent behavior; 
                communities must be willing to fund programs and 
                services to protect children from abuse; and the media 
                needs to raise public awareness of the availability of 
                those programs and services.

                My Administration is committed to doing its part to 
                ensure the health and well-being of all our Nation's 
                children. We have worked to increase funding at the 
                State level for child protection programs and family 
                preservation services. Working with the Congress, we 
                have enacted the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment 
                Act and the Adoption and Safe Families Act, and we have 
                established the Safe and Stable Families Program. Just 
                a few weeks ago, I signed into law the Child Abuse 
                Prevention and Enforcement Act, which gives State and 
                local officials greater flexibility in using Department 
                of Justice grant programs to prevent child abuse and 
                neglect. This new legislation will increase funding to 
                enforce child abuse and neglect laws, to enhance the 
                investigation of child abuse and neglect crimes, and to 
                promote programs to prevent such abuse and neglect. 
                Through these and other measures, we continue our 
                efforts to create a society where every child is 
                cherished and no child bears the lasting scars of abuse 
                or neglect.

[[Page 17984]]

                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 2000 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 healthy 
                places where children can grow and thrive.

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

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 00-8570
Filed 4-4-00; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P