 Good morning, Mr. President, Secretary Bowen, Chairman McConnell, Vice-Chairman Bricker, members of the Child Safety Partnership, and award recipients. It gives me a great pleasure to be here today and to welcome all of you to this morning's ceremony. I am particularly pleased that we have a number of members of Congress, of the House, and the Senate that are with us this morning. We are particularly grateful for them being with us. In just a few moments, the President will be receiving the final report of the Child Safety Partnership and will be honoring eight dedicated individuals for their efforts to protect the youth of our nation. The importance of the work that has been put in by the partnership and by the awardees cannot be overstated. It's been only in relatively recent times that the people of our country have focused on the terrible problem of child victimization. But nevertheless, it is a problem of vast dimensions. In the year for which we have the most recent figures, there were some 1.3 million cases of rape, robbery, and assault committed against young people in the 12 to 17-year age group. Additionally, there were over 750,000 who cede with that act. I am pleased to introduce the distinguished Chairman of the President's Child Safety Partnership, Mr. William McConnell. Mr. President, on behalf of the members of the President's Child Safety Partnership, it is our pleasure to present to you our findings and recommendations. You formed the President's Child Safety Partnership over two years ago because of your commitment to and concern for the well-being of our nation's children. Especially those children who are unfortunate enough to become victims of purposeful and sometimes vengeful acts, such as abuse, molestation, sexual exploitation, and stranger abduction, as well as those children who ran away from home. You appointed a group of citizens representing the business community, the private, nonprofit community, the government sector, and private individuals to find answers and solutions to the problem of child victimization. We had a common ... Well, thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate this opportunity to receive the report of the partnership and to thank all of you who have contributed to this study. It was two years ago when I first appointed 26 of you distinguished citizens who would not take this issue lightly to examine the status of child safety in America. This effort was launched during a time of anxiety and frustration over an escalating number of reports about the abuse, molestation, and abduction of children. What I asked for was more than just a reaffirmation that a problem exists. I'm looking forward then to reading your recommendations on how America should approach this issue and how all Americans can work together to prevent the victimization of children. Much care was taken to ensure that results-oriented, no-nonsense people were brought into this effort. Certainly the last thing needed is a report predicated on the idea that government can solve this and every other problem simply by spending more tax dollars or increasing the number of federal bureaucrats whose official assignment is solving the problem. Child safety is a broad and complex issue as you've heard and does not lend itself to easy answers and quick fixes. It's more than just abuse and neglect. It's also the exploitation of children through pornography and prostitution, the abduction of children, and the assault, robbery, and murder of children. It involves kids who run away from home or are turned out of their homes and youths who abuse drugs and alcohol. You'll be glad to know that this month I'll be proposing legislation to Congress that will give law enforcement officials the help they need to crack down on child pornography and the exploitation of our children. The answer is not federalizing and bureaucratizing the problem. The answer is to bring into play the greatest force for good on this planet and that is the active commitment of the American people. Your report will be another important step toward informing and mobilizing the citizenry. First and foremost, we must be aggressive advocates of a simple yet profound idea. It's a preeminent responsibility for the family to care for and raise its children and a preeminent responsibility of society to nurture and protect the institution of the family. We cannot make progress in this area without first admitting that many of the problems we face concerning the victimization of children stem from a breakdown of the family and the decline of certain moral values in America. These are problems that will require all of us to take a stand and to get involved. In September, I issued an executive order requiring all federal departments and agencies to review existing and proposed legislation and regulations to make sure they don't undermine family values. From this end, you can count on me and the other leaders of our administration to consider seriously what impact the decisions we are making will have on the institution of the family. And that includes our decisions as to who will be appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States. Thomas Jefferson once wrote, The fortune of our lives depends on employing well the short period of our youth. Well, that's what this report and the effort we're making is all about. We want all of America's children to reach their fullest potential, to reach adulthood capable of living life to its fullest and taking advantage of the tremendous freedom of our country. As I said earlier, this is not just government's job, it's up to all of us. I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the individuals and companies who have been involved in private sector initiatives that attack the problem of child victimization in America. And I'd like to offer congratulations to those winners of the Child Safety Partnership Award, Parental Stress Services, KOMOTV, Paulina Holm, Texas Eyes Division of Dow Consumer Products, Housewise Streetwise, Robert L. Bearden, National Children's Advocacy Center, and the American Gas Association. There are of these are of course, but just a few of the many wonderful examples of what Americans are voluntarily doing to better this country. It caught my attention that the Annie E. Casey Foundation will be giving $100 million to help America's children. One program being financed is specifically aimed at helping those kids at risk, teenagers who drop out of school and cannot find jobs, and pregnant young women. Let me just note that this grant is coming from a foundation that was funded by one of America's great entrepreneurs, Jim Casey. The foundation is named after his mother, who raised her children alone. Jim in fact had to quit school at the age of 11 to earn money to contribute to the family. He started delivering messages with a friend and eventually set up an office for his American Messenger service in the basement of a saloon. With hard work and a commitment to excellence, Jim, starting from that humblest of beginnings, built one of this country's most successful business enterprises, United Parcel Service. He proved through his life that free enterprise is not only more efficient, but that it fosters those human values which make this a good and a free land. In his lifetime, Jim Casey and his brothers and a sister through the Casey Family Program have helped a countless number of society's forgotten children. Jim died five years ago, and now a foundation that he endowed with hundreds of millions of dollars is a lasting tribute to this great American. He cared for kids he will never know. Jim is often quoted as saying determined people working together can do anything. Well, that is our challenge. So thank you all for what you are doing to protect America's greatest national treasure, our children. And now, Mario Machado will introduce the winners, and we will present them with their awards. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, the first recipient is the American Gas Association, the National Trade Association comprised of nearly 300 natural gas companies. For the last two years, in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the National Child Safety Council, they've engaged in the National Child Watch Campaign, which helps to locate missing children and increase public awareness and involvement in this issue by circulating millions of missing children's photographs and child safety tips each month through the mailings to their 160 participating member companies, accepting for the American Gas Association their distinguished chairman of the board, James T. Dolan, who is also the chairman of the New Jersey Natural Gas Company. On the southwest, our next recipient has attacked the problem of victimized children head on in 1969 as a World War II veteran and father of five children. He was concerned that many of the Vietnam veterans were coming back to the United States with heroin habits and nothing else. Many of these veterans ended up on the streets of Killeen, Texas, with a desire to end their habit, but with no place to go for help in this endeavor. Bob abandoned his personal businesses and with his own funds established Christian Farms, a rehabilitation center for young adults with drug and alcohol problems. Later, a separate program, the Treehouse, was also developed for females in nearby Temple, Texas. Persons as young as 13 as well as senior citizens have been successfully served by the Christian Farms and Treehouse programs. Here, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. President from Parker Heights, Texas, Bob Bearden and his lovely wife. From Greenville County, South Carolina, 171 classrooms each year are made wiser by the HouseWise StreetWise program, a safety education program. The nine-hour classroom curriculum is designed to teach children abuse, prevention, coping scales, and emergency procedures so they may successfully cope with real-life potential hazards. HouseWise StreetWise encourages discussions about real problems and the hazards children confront with six daily themes that use films, artwork, guest speakers, role-play, problem-solving music and relay races, which teach children how to solve their problems with competence and confidence. This program exemplifies the objectives of the President's Child Safety Partnership because it was developed by the public and private sectors working together, including the local legal auxiliary in elementary school and the Victim Witness Assistance Program, here accepting Jane Crisp Project Director. From the great northwest of our country, KOMO Television and Radio in Seattle, Washington has sponsored several projects to prevent child abuse and encourage child safety. It set up a 50-member community advisory board to provide direction and used its broadcasting services to publicize those efforts, which included new series public affairs programming, non-commercial announcements, public service announcements, and documentaries. In February of 1984, they launched a Missing Kids campaign, which ran for two years. At the end of that time, 27 children had been returned to their custodial parents. In January of 1985, they focused on Teen Suicide. The centerpiece for this campaign was the ABC Theater Presentation Survival. They distributed a discussion guide on the movie for high schools and a handout on suicide prevention. Ladies and gentlemen, the Assistant Director of Community Relations, James Brown. This next award goes to a model child-focused prosecution-based intervention program in Huntsville, Alabama. The setting in a large house serves as a warm, non-threatening environment where children who have been abused can be interviewed and receive counseling by trained professionals who operate as a team. The house itself is bright and appealing, furnished with porch swing, toys, plants, and an aquarium, suggesting a caring environment. The several interviewing rooms are age-appropriate for younger and older children. In addition to having the five-member full-time staff, the house is a conference room that serves as a neutral, central location where the professionals comprising a multi-disciplinary review panel meet weekly to review cases presented by the investigating Child Protective Services law enforcement teams. Here to accept the president of this august organization, also the district attorney of Madison County, Alabama, Bud Kramer. From the Midwest, Chicago's metropolitan area, parental stress services seeks to lower the incidence of child abuse and neglect in that area through self-help programs of prevention, crisis intervention, and family advocacy. PSS is a volunteer agency that is committed to helping parents help themselves and improving their relationships with their children by replacing negative attitudes and actions with constructive methods of handling the normal stresses of parenting. The major components of the program include weekly parent training classes, a primary prevention program offering support groups and information services for first-time parents, and an outreach program which provides home visits by staff and volunteers to families in need of counseling and support to receive the executive director, David Walker. This next group comes from Chicago. They are headed by a former Notre Dame basketball grade who came with his own team. The four other members are here. You might stand up just so the president can recognize some of the great former athletes of Notre Dame who are with you. Paulina Home is a residential treatment program in Chicago created by this gentleman, Father John Smith, in response to the need for a program to care for the growing number of children who are the victims of child pornography, teenage prostitution, and sexual abuse. His goal was to develop an innovative program unlike any shelter in the United States. The Paulina Home has achieved that goal in that it not only provides immediate care but also develops a long-term plan for each child who arrives so that no child is abandoned to the streets nor to the pimps or pedophiles who exploited the child. Over 450 children have been served by the shelter in these past three years. Children as young as six years old who have been the victims of pornography have been treated to Paulina Home. The effectiveness of the Paulina Home, the witness protection program, and the proactive approach by law enforcement agencies helped to increase and maintain the conviction rate of exploiters of children, the pimps and the pedophiles, from 15 percent to 95 percent since 1985. The former Notre Dame basketball rate, director of Maryville City of Youth, ladies and gentlemen, Mr. President, Father John Smith. And finally, sir, in June of 1985, the tech-sized division of Dow consumer products based in Greenville, South Carolina entered into a child safety partnership with the National Crime Prevention Council and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children by launching Operation KidSafe, the most ambitious trade and consumer cross brand promotion in the company's history. Through this partnership, TechSize agreed to raise money for these two organizations through a coupon redemption program. Every time a consumer used a coupon to purchase TechSize products, 20 cents was donated to these organizations. The coupon redemption program resulted in record sales volume. And as a result, by the end of the promotion, TechSize has raised over $705,000 for these child safety organizations. Through Operation KidSafe, TechSize has also developed and disseminated child safety materials for children and parents. By utilizing their tremendous marketing abilities, TechSize was able to make this information available to literally thousands of families nationwide. This public-private partnership initiated by TechSize serves as a model for other businesses and proves that corporate involvement in child safety benefits both the child safety organization and the business itself. Director of Public Relations, Ms. Nell Stewart. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, let's again salute the awardees.