[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 40 (Monday, October 11, 1999)]
[Page 1919]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7232--Child Health Day, 1999

October 1, 1999

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    As America's children begin their exciting journey into the 21st 
century, one of the greatest gifts we can give them is a healthy start; 
and we should recognize that the well-being of our young people includes 
both their physical and mental health.
    We have already made great strides in addressing children's physical 
health care needs through the Children's Health Insurance Program 
(CHIP), which funds State efforts to provide affordable health insurance 
to millions of uninsured children. Sadly, however, as many as one in ten 
American children and adolescents today may have behavioral or mental 
health problems; and parents, teachers, and health care professionals 
need to realize that even very young children can experience serious 
clinical depression. The majority of children who commit suicide are 
profoundly depressed, and the majority of parents whose children took 
their own lives did not recognize that depression until it was too late.
    My Administration is working to increase children's access to mental 
health care and to help communities expand counseling, mentoring, and 
mental health services in our schools. In addition, we fought to ensure 
that funding for CHIP contains a strong mental health benefits 
component. While there is no substitute for parents becoming and 
remaining involved in their children's lives, we must give families the 
tools they need to meet the challenges they face.
    Perhaps the most vital step we can take to ensure that every child 
reaches his or her full potential is to fight the stigma that prevents 
so many Americans with mental illness from making the most of their 
lives. In June of this year, under the leadership of Tipper Gore, we 
convened the first-ever White House Conference on Mental Health, where, 
among other important issues, we discussed how to reach out to troubled 
young people and put them on the path to mental and emotional health. 
The first and most crucial effort we can make is to talk honestly about 
mental illness and begin to dispel the myths that surround it. I am 
pleased that the Surgeon General and Mrs. Gore have committed to a major 
new campaign with these goals in mind. With powerful public service 
announcements and strong partners in the private sector, we can reach 
millions of Americans with a simple but life-changing message: Mental 
illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but bias and discrimination shame 
us all.
    To acknowledge the importance of our children's health, the 
Congress, by joint resolution approved May 18, 1928, as amended (36 
U.S.C. 143), has called for the designation of the first Monday in 
October as ``Child Health Day'' and has requested the President to issue 
a proclamation in observance of this day.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, do hereby proclaim Monday, October 4, 1999, as Child 
Health Day. I call upon families, schools, communities, and governments 
to dedicate themselves to protecting the health and well-being of all 
our children.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
October, 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-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

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

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
7. This proclamation was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on October 4.