[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 5, 2023)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 20367-20368]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-07311]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 88 , No. 65 / Wednesday, April 5, 2023 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 20367]]


                Proclamation 10543 of March 31, 2023

                
National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2023

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                During National Child Abuse Prevention Month, we want 
                every young person in the United States who has faced 
                the fear and pain of abuse or neglect to know they are 
                not alone. We see you and will always fight to protect 
                your safety and well-being. We reaffirm our commitment 
                to listening to children, standing with brave 
                survivors, and reaching out across our communities to 
                support families and to help others in need.

                I was raised to believe that the greatest sin in life 
                is the abuse of power, and the abuse of a woman or 
                child is the worst of all. Yet millions of children of 
                every race, religion, and background face neglect or 
                physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in America every 
                year. It can leave deep, lasting scars, making it 
                harder to learn in school, to form trusting 
                relationships, to build self-esteem, and to escape 
                cycles of abuse long-term. It denies far too many 
                children the promise of America and risks cutting them 
                off from their dreams and undermining their ability to 
                reach their full potential.

                We have a moral obligation to protect every child in 
                America and to help survivors heal. That is why, as a 
                United States Senator, I wrote and passed the Violence 
                Against Women Act, to help secure safety and justice 
                for women and children impacted by domestic violence. 
                We have fought ever since to keep building on that 
                law--including with last year's bipartisan 
                reauthorization, which increased support for 
                prevention, trauma-informed services, and training for 
                courts while also expanding recognition of Tribal 
                courts' jurisdiction in cases involving non-Native 
                perpetrators of child abuse. As President, I also 
                signed the American Rescue Plan, investing an 
                additional $350 million to improve State child 
                protective services and community-based child abuse 
                prevention programs. The Department of Justice is 
                providing resources to Children's Advocacy Centers 
                across the country that support child abuse victims by 
                supporting law enforcement efforts to investigate and 
                prosecute child abuse and funding law enforcement task 
                forces to combat online child exploitation. I also 
                signed legislation eliminating the Federal statute of 
                limitations for child sex abuse crimes so justice can 
                still be done even after survivors become adults. And 
                we are helping State and territorial health departments 
                prevent sexual violence and provide trauma-informed 
                training to support recovery among the 1 in 4 girls and 
                1 in 13 boys who will face sexual abuse before they 
                turn 18.

                To support our children, we are continuing our efforts 
                to reduce child poverty across the board, including by 
                fighting to restore the Child Tax Credit, which in 2021 
                helped slash child poverty to its lowest rate ever. We 
                know that poverty can trigger interventions in which 
                children are sometimes unnecessarily removed from their 
                homes. My new budget requests $10 billion to help keep 
                families safely together and to better fund child abuse 
                prevention and treatment services.

                Meanwhile, a dangerous wave of cynical State 
                investigations is targeting families just because they 
                love and support their transgender children. These 
                State campaigns are government overreach at its worst. 
                From the Department of Justice to the Department of 
                Health and Human Services, my Administration will keep 
                working to make sure that politicians do not unlawfully

[[Page 20368]]

                weaponize child protective services against loving 
                families who simply want to support their kids and help 
                them to be themselves.

                It has been said that a Nation is judged by how we 
                treat the most vulnerable among us. Nowhere is that 
                truer than when it comes to protecting our children, 
                making sure they grow up safe from harm and surrounded 
                by love. That is on all of us. For more information on 
                how to recognize and report child abuse or neglect, as 
                well as on how to support loving families and safe 
                communities, visit childwelfare.gov.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of 
                the United States of America, by virtue of the 
                authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws 
                of the United States, do hereby proclaim April 2023 as 
                National Child Abuse Prevention Month. I call upon all 
                Americans to observe this month by joining together as 
                a Nation to promote the safety and well-being of all 
                children and families and to recognize the child-
                welfare professionals and allies who work tirelessly to 
                protect our children. Let us also honor the strength 
                and resilience of survivors of child abuse.

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

[FR Doc. 2023-07311
Filed 4-4-23; 11:15 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P