    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 13 (Monday, April 5, 1999)]
    [Pages 570-571]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Proclamation 7158--National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 1999

    April 1, 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

    [[Page 571]]

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

    [Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 6,
    1999]

    Note: This proclamation will be published in the Federal Register on
    April 7.