Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 103 Part 3.djvu/919

 PROCLAMATION 5933—JAN. 12, 1989 103 STAT. 2987 indispensable elements of our national life and heritage always inform our efforts as parents, families, communities, and a country, in regard to the children entrusted to us, we will surely remember our duty to cherish and protect them and to respect their innate dignity and rights. Not all children are blessed with loving, affirming, and understanding parents. Many youngsters suffer the effects of permissiveness, lack of guidance, drug and alcohol abuse, and absence of religious faith. Fortu- nately, remedies for these ills do exist, and families and concerned citi- zens are doing all they can to guarantee a future of promise and fulfill- ment for their own children and for all ouur kids. We owe our gratitude and cooperation to those who encourage us to give our children the spiritual as well as material sustenance we all need. We must also continue to strive for public policies, educational re- forms, and conditions of economic growth and opportunity that help meet every child's material needs—that break the cycle of poverty and foster health, prosperity, and progress for our kids, families, communi- ties, and Nation. We must continue to aid school dropouts; yoimgsters who run away or are forced to leave home; and victims of child abuse, pornography, and prostitution. We must recognize our duty to report suspected child abuse and neglect, and to do the same in cases of sell- ing liquor and illegal drugs to minors. And we must teach youngsters the beauty of the loving, lifelong relationship between husband and wife that is marriage. As we celebrate this special month, let us be mindful of the worth of every child, recognize our youngsters' accomplishments, and rededicate our8elves to providing help and support for all who need them. And let us be siu-e to do these things with a prayer in our hearts as we prove that, truly, America Loves Its Kids. The Congress, by Public Law 100-602, has designated February 1989 as "America Loves Its Kids Month" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observtuice of this occasion. NOW, THEREFORE. I. RONALD REAGAN, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim February 1989 as America Loves Its Kids Month, and I call upon all Americans to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies and activities. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two him- dred and thirteenth. RONALD REAGAN

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