Child Health Day, 2017

Proclamation 9650 of September 29, 2017

Child Health Day, 2017

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

On Child Health Day, we commit to protecting and
promoting the health and well-being of our Nation's
young people. How we treat our young people is a
fundamental test of who we are as a society. Today, we
reaffirm that all children deserve to grow up in
healthy, safe, and loving homes, with parents or
guardians who nurture, inspire, and empower them to
realize their full potential.

As a father, I know the hope and joy children bring to
our lives. They are society's most precious treasures
and our most vulnerable population. We all share the
moral responsibility to protect the health of our
children, born and unborn, so they have the chance to
achieve their potential.

To these ends, my Fiscal Year 2018 Budget provides a
$30 million increase for the Maternal and Child Health
Services Block Grant program, which enhances access to
critical health services for 57 million women and
children. In close partnership with States and
communities, this program helps ensure mothers receive
critical prenatal care and nutrition, provides aid for
children with disabilities, and opens access to other
vital health services. The program also addresses
emerging issues that painfully affect our children,
such as mental health disorders and our Nation's
devastating opioid epidemic. The number of infants born
physically dependent on opioids has more than
quadrupled over the past decade. In addition, during
the past 2 years, many States have experienced dramatic
increases in the number of children in their foster-
care systems, as parents have struggled with addiction
and its terrible consequences. I am committed to
aggressively combating the scourge of opioid abuse, so
that children do not bear the burden of its
devastation.

Together, we will strive to create an environment in
which children of all of ages and backgrounds grow up
healthy and secure, so they may use their unique
talents to improve their communities and our world.

The Congress, by a joint resolution approved May 18,
1928, as amended (36 U.S.C. 105), has called for the
designation of the first Monday in October as Child
Health Day and has requested that the President issue a
proclamation in observance of this day.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States do hereby proclaim Monday, October 2,
2017, as Child Health Day. I call upon families, child
health professionals, faith-based and community
organizations, and governments to help ensure that
America's children stay safe and healthy.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord
two thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
second.