National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 1999

Proclamation 7178 of April 1, 1999

National Child Abuse Prevention Month, 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 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.