[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.