[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 14 (Monday, April 10, 2000)]
[Pages 691-692]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7285--National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 2000

March 31, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Children are our link to the future and our hope for a better 
tomorrow. Within a few short years, we will look to today's children for 
the vision, strength, creativity, and leadership to guide our Nation 
through the challenges of this new century. If they are to grow into 
healthy, happy adults and responsible citizens, we must provide our 
children with the love, nurturing, and protection they need and deserve.
    However, many of America's children are not safe, even in their own 
homes. The statistics are staggering. Every year, there are nearly one 
million reported incidents of child abuse; and even more disturbing, 
more than 2,000 of these incidents result in the child's death. Whether 
suffering neglect, harsh physical punishment, sexual abuse, or 
psychological trauma, the children who survive will carry the scars of 
their abuse for the rest of their lives.
    We now know that there are a variety of risk factors that contribute 
to child abuse and neglect--including parental substance abuse, lack of 
parenting skills and knowledge, domestic violence, or extreme stress--
and there are practical measures and programs we can use to mitigate 
such factors. Social service providers can offer substance abuse 
programs for adults with children; schools can offer educational 
programs to teach parenting skills to teen mothers or instruct children 
on how to protect themselves from sexual predators; faith organizations 
can offer respite care for parents of children with special needs; and 
employers can introduce family-friendly policies, from child care to 
parental leave to flexible work schedules, to reduce the stress on 
working families.
    Keeping children safe is a community responsibility, and prevention 
must be a community task. Every segment of society must be involved, 
including health and law enforcement professionals, schools, businesses, 
the media, government agencies, community and faith organizations, and 
especially parents themselves. Teachers and physicians need to recognize 
the symptoms of child abuse; parents need to ask for help in overcoming 
addictions or controlling violent behavior; communities must be willing 
to fund programs and services to protect children from abuse; and the 
media needs to raise public awareness of the availability of those 
programs and services.
    My Administration is committed to doing its part to ensure the 
health and well-being of all our Nation's children. We have worked to 
increase funding at the State level for child protection programs and 
family preservation services. Working with the Congress, we have enacted 
the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act and the Adoption and Safe 
Families Act, and we have established the Safe and Stable Families 
Program. Just a few weeks ago, I signed into law the Child Abuse 
Prevention and Enforcement Act, which gives State and local officials 
greater flexibility in using Department of Justice grant programs to 
prevent child abuse and neglect. This new legislation will increase 
funding to enforce child abuse and neglect laws, to enhance the 
investigation of child abuse and neglect crimes, and to promote programs 
to prevent such abuse and neglect. Through these and other measures, we 
continue our efforts to create a society where every child is cherished 
and no child bears the lasting scars of abuse or neglect.
     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

[[Page 692]]

States, do hereby proclaim April 2000 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 healthy places where children 
can grow and thrive.
     In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first 
day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand, 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., April 4, 
2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
5. This item was not received in time for publication in the appropriate 
issue.