I invite the people of the United States to honor the Bicentennial of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce that day by holding appropriate ceremonies and activities in suitable places throughout the land. In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and seventh. A Proclamation Child abuse and child neglect continue to threaten the lives and health of over a million of our Nation's children. Their physical suffering and emotional anguish challenge us, as parents, neighbors, and citizens, to increase our attention to their protection and intensify our efforts to prevent their maltreatment. Children may be endangered by physical battering, denial of the basic necessities for life and health, sexual abuse and exploitation, or emotional cruelty.
Public concern can help prevent maltreatment and help protect children.
Action taken after cruelty has occurred is often too late. Prevention of abuse requires that neighborhoods and communities be attentive to the problems of families in their midst and be willing to help when help is needed. It requires the active concern of educational, medical, mental health, law enforcement, and social service professionals, and the efforts of volunteers and private citizens. The health and well-being of our children underlie the future of our Nation. The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 21, has recognized the need for public attention to prevention of child abuse and has requested me to proclaim April 1983 as National Child Abuse Prevention Month.