[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 32 (Monday, August 14, 1995)]
[Pages 1384-1385]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6814--National Child Support Awareness Month, 1995

August 5, 1995

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Providing for our children is one of humanity's worthiest and most 
fundamental endeavors. Children are the best part of ourselves--the sum 
of our past and the promise of our future, the guarantee that our lives 
and values and dreams will flourish long after we are gone. Sadly, 
however, many parents in our country today deny the instinct to care for 
their children, failing to provide even the most basic economic support. 
Millions of America's children have no legally identified father. 
Millions do not receive the financial support they need to lead secure 
and healthy lives.
    Because of these harsh realities, I have made the reform of our 
Nation's child support system one of the top priorities of my 
Administration. The welfare reform plan that I proposed to the Congress 
last year contains the toughest child support enforcement measures in 
America's history--measures that would improve the effectiveness of 
procedures for establishing paternity, make it easier to enter and 
update child support awards, and dramatically strengthen our ability to 
enforce payment of those awards. My proposals would also give us the 
ability to track deadbeat parents across State lines, suspend their 
driver's licenses if necessary, and make them work off what they owe.
    As the Nation's largest single employer, the Federal Government must 
take a leadership role in the effort to ensure that all of America's 
children are properly supported. In February of this year, I signed an 
Executive order requiring Federal agencies to cooperate fully with 
measures to establish and enforce child support orders and to inform 
employees of how they can meet their support obligations. Additionally, 
we are encouraging State and local governments to develop innovative 
approaches to helping families cope with child support issues, and the 
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has begun to restructure 
and strengthen its partnerships with State child support agencies.
    This month we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Child Support 
Enforcement Program at HHS. This program--at the Federal, State, and 
local levels--has been instrumental in giving hope and support to 
America's children while fostering strong families and responsible 
parenting. Through their efforts, over 5.1 million children now have a 
legally recognized father; more than 11.7 million children with a parent 
living outside of their homes have a legal right to the financial sup- 

[[Page 1385]]

port of that parent; and over $72.5 billion has been provided for 
children by their noncustodial parents.
    But for all that we have accomplished, we still have much to do. By 
ensuring the enactment and implementation of my Administration's strong 
child support enforcement proposals, we will send a clear signal to our 
citizens that they should not have children until they are prepared to 
care for them. Those who do bring children into the world must bear the 
responsibility of supporting them. We must rededicate ourselves to the 
task of putting these youngest and most vulnerable of our citizens 
first.
    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 August 
1995, as ``National Child Support Awareness Month.'' I call upon the 
citizens of the United States to observe this month with appropriate 
programs, ceremonies, and activities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of 
August, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-five, and of 
the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twentieth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 12:09 p.m., August 7, 
1995]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on August 
8.