LAWYERS FOR CHILDREN AMERICA, INC.
Contact:
Priscilla Pappadia
Executive Director
(860) 273-0441
pappadiap@aetna.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THE AETNA FOUNDATION PROVIDES $100,000 IN SUPPORT OF CONNECTICUT’S ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN
Hartford County: August 2018 – The Aetna Foundation recently awarded Lawyers for Children America, Inc. (LFCA), a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization, a grant in the amount of $100,000. The award will support LFCA’s efforts in Connecticut to obtain best outcomes for abused and neglected children by providing effective legal advocacy services. Since 1994, LFCA has accomplished its mission through a highly skilled staff and a dedicated network of pro bono attorneys, recruited from local major law firms and corporate legal departments to take on child protection cases in juvenile court. LFCA has served over 5,000 abused and neglected children in Connecticut.
“We deeply appreciate the Aetna Foundation’s grant award to support our legal advocacy for the medical and mental health needs of abused and neglected children,” said Priscilla Pappadia, LFCA Executive Director. “Our program is successful because our ‘one lawyer-one child’ approach enables LFCA volunteer attorneys to give significant attention to all of their child client’s needs and to advocate successfully for comprehensive services,” Ms. Pappadia continued. “Our volunteer attorneys spend quality time getting to know not only the issues in their child client’s case, but also the child and his or her unique attributes, interests, challenges and hopes. . . it becomes a special and productive relationship for the child.”
LFCA began as a pilot project in 1994 within the Aetna Law Department in Hartford, CT, under the leadership of Zoe Baird, then Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Aetna. In June 1995, LFCA was launched as a national initiative with the opening of additional programs in Washington, D.C. and Miami, FL. In addition to the three initial sites, LFCA opened a fourth office in 2000 in Fairfield County, CT and a fifth office in New Haven, CT in 2002. LFCA receives case assignments from 8 juvenile courts in Connecticut and continues to receive support from the Aetna Law Department, as well as, the Aetna Foundation.
For more information, visit www.lawyersforchildrenamerica.org.
About the Aetna Foundation
The Aetna Foundation is a national foundation based in Hartford, Connecticut that supports projects to promote wellness, health and access to high quality health care for everyone. The views presented here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Aetna Foundation, its directors, officers, or staff. For more information, visit www.aetnafoundation.org.