“Dear Friends, Thank you for the donation for my birthday. To celebrate my birthday, my Guardian Ad Litem took me to Benihana restaurant. I had fun watching the chef prepare my food and do tricks at the table. I have a passion for art so I also got art supplies for my birthday. Thank you again for your generosity.”
I.M., age 16

 The Anne Turney Liipfert Memorial Fund provides financial aid to neglected and abused children. Anne was the founder of the Volunteer Attorneys Program, now known as the Counsel for Child Abuse and Neglect. As a Guardian ad litem, she represented many children in the neglect system and recognized that they often passed important milestones while in foster care, without family to help them celebrate their special events. She made sure to remember birthdays, recognize achievements and celebrate graduations.

 The fund established in her name provides financial gifts to these children. Grants are given upon the application of the child’s Guardian ad litem to meet a special need or to recognize an important occasion. The grants are generally for $50 or less and only one grant is given to a child in any one year. 

 Recent examples of Liipfert Fund grants include: a trip to the circus for a group of siblings; an outing to a toy store for a nine-year old’s birthday; a gift certificate to a clothing store for a teenager; a desk and lamp for a high school student who was reunifying with his formerly homeless father; and board games and books for siblings who had been placed in separate foster homes but were reunified in a relative’s home just in time for the holidays.

FRIENDS of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia