to view the event program booklet.

Fifth Annual Benefit
of the
Family Defense Center
September 22, 2013
Protecting Children by Defending Families
Cocktail Reception and Award Ceremony
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Reception
Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres
Silent auction including original pieces
by painterand muralist Alejandro Romero
Entertainment by pianist William Wallin
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Program and Award Ceremony
Individual Attorney Recognition
Colleen Garlington, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Major Litigation Award
Julie Q. Pro Bono Team and Amicus Attorneys: Michael T. Brody (Lead counsel, Jenner &
Block), Precious Jacobs, Hon. Michael Otto, Elizabeth Butler, Ajay Athavale, Darren Fish, LAF
Attorneys Richard Cozzola, Steven Pick, and Sara Block (courtesy of Skadden Fellowship)
Lifetime Achievement Special Recognition
Dr. Eugene Pergament; Rhoda Redleaf
The 2013 Family Defender Award
Anita Weinberg
6:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
iPad Raffle, Live Auction and Fund-A-Need
Honorary Nancy Dreher Medical-Legal Accountability Fund
Richard Vigilante, Auctioneer
6:15 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Silent Auction
6:15 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Cocktails, Dessert, Coffee
7:30 p.m.
Benefit Conclusion
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September 22, 2013
Dear Friends of the Family Defense Center,
Thank you for joining us this year as we recognize the important
contributions of our distinguished honorees in advancing justice for families in the
child welfare.
It’s hard to believe that September 22, 2013 marks our fifth annual gala.
Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday that we were forming our first
gala planning committee and choosing the first of our many very distinguished
honorees. Since our first gala in 2009, our events have become bigger and better;
though this too makes us say, “Can you believe it?”
Our honorees this year include so many friends, family (including my
own mother, the most inspiring person I know), remarkable lawyers (as always) and
people closely connected to our mission. I, for one, plan to enjoy the chance to be in
this wonderful company of advocates for children and families. I hope you savor this
opportunity with me.
This year’s event showcases the diversity of ways in which advocates
for children and families make a contribution to keeping families together. Anita
Weinberg, our 2013 Family Defender, personifies that diversity all by herself—as
a social worker and a lawyer, as a policy advocate, as a teacher, as a negotiator and
strategist and, finally, as a community leader. Anita’s range of accomplishments is
breathtaking. I’m thrilled that we are honoring her and grateful that she is one of our
founding board members and close friends. Rhoda Redleaf, Dr. Eugene Pergament, Colleen Garlington and the
entire Julie Q. team are exemplars of a deep commitment to supporting children and
families. I hope you will read the biographies of our honorees in the program book
that document the depth and breadth of how our honorees have contributed to a
more just society for children and families.
I hope all of our friends will join with me in the heartfelt thanks we
extend to all of our honorees. I look forward to working with all of our friends and
supporters in the coming year on the mission which we all passionately support:
advocating justice for families in the child welfare system.
Thank you and I hope you enjoy tonight’s program!
Diane L. Redleaf
Founder/Executive Director
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Family Defense Center
Cocktail Reception and Award Ceremony
Table of Contents
Welcome from our Co-Chairs....................................................Front inside cover
Cocktail and Award Ceremony Program..............................................................1
Welcome from Executive Director Diane Redleaf.................................................2
Table of Contents..................................................................................................3
Event Co-Chairs: Kathleen Barry and Curtis Warner;
Carolyn Shapiro and Joshua Karsh..................................................................4
Honorary Co-Chairs: Dorothy Roberts, Christopher Sullivan,
Carolyn Kubitschek, and Karl Dennis.............................................................5
Mistress of Ceremonies: Laura Washington..........................................................8
Meet this Evening’s Artists:
William Wallin, Pianist and Alejandro Romero, Painter...............................9
Special Individual Attorney Recognition: Colleen Garlington............................ 11
Major Litigation Award: Julie Q. Pro Bono Team and Amicus Attorneys...........12
Lifetime Achievement Awards:
Eugene Pergament............................................................................... 14
Rhoda Redleaf.....................................................................................16
2013 Family Defender Award: Anita Weinberg..................................................24
Tributes to Our Honorees and Congratulations
from our Supporters................................................................ 10, 21-23, 33-51
Acknowledgements: Organizations for Major Annual Support...........................52
Acknowledgements: Family Defense Center Supporters and Event Sponsors......52
Acknowledgements: Auction Donors..................................................................53
Acknowledgements: Board of Diretors................................................................54
Acknowledgements: Benefit Hosts, Planning Committee, Volunteers................55
Family Defense Center Staff...............................................................................56
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Event Co-Chairs: Kathleen Barry and Curtis Warner; Carolyn Shapiro and Joshua Karsh
K athleen Barry and Curtis Warner: Kathleen Barry is of
counsel in the litigation department of Winston & Strawn LLP,
which she joined in 2003. She is a 2001 graduate, summa cum
laude, of the University of Illinois College of Law. She received
her A.B. degree in Mathematics and History from Dartmouth
College, cum laude, in 1998. At Winston & Strawn, she has
worked on major commercial litigation in patents, contracts, and
class actions. She has also mentored students at Dodge Academy
and been recognized for her pro bono work on behalf of an inmate
at the Illinois Department of Corrections. Ms. Barry has provided
exceptional pro bono contributions to the FDC, for which she
was recognized (together with her father George Barry) with the
Father-Daughter Achievement Award at our 2012 Benefit.
Curtis Warner is the Principal at the Warner Law Firm LLC,
which he founded in 2006. He represents consumers in complex
class action and individual cases. He is a 2002 graduate, cum laude, of the Michigan State University College
of Law where he was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Medicine and Law. He holds a Master’s of Education
degree from Wayne State University, 1998, and received his B.S. degree from Grand Valley State University
in 1993. Mr. Warner has done pro bono work with the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago
and was a staff attorney with Migrant Legal Aid. Together, Kathleen and Curt and their families are strong
supporters of the Family Defense Center.
Carolyn Shapiro and Joshua K arsh: Carolyn Shapiro
is an Associate Professor of Law and the Director of the
Institute on the Supreme Court of the United States at
IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, where she teaches
courses on public interest law, employment law, and
legislation. She is a 1995 graduate of the University of
Chicago Law School, with high honors, is a member of
the Order of the Coif, and served as articles editor of
the Law Review. She holds two other degrees from the
University of Chicago as well: a B.A. in English with
honors and a M.A. from the Harris Graduate School of
Public Policy. After law school, she clerked for the Hon.
Richard A. Posner of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and for Justice Stephen
G. Breyer of the United States Supreme Court. After her clerkships, she served as a Skadden Fellow with the
National Center on Poverty Law, and then worked as an associate with Miner, Barnhill & Galland, where she
handled primarily plaintiff-side civil rights cases.
4
While still a Skadden Fellow, Carolyn began to consult
with Family Defense Center Executive Director on the
lawsuit that became Dupuy v. Samuels. She later served
as co-counsel with the Center on a petition to the
United State Supreme Court in the Dupuy case and as
co-counsel for the plaintiffs before the United States
Supreme Court in Camreta v. Greene.
Joshua Karsh is a shareholder at Hughes Socol Piers
Resnick & Dym Ltd. He is a litigator with a broad
practice, including in the areas of general commercial
litigation, director and officer liability, civil rights,
labor and employment, whistleblower litigation,
insurance coverage disputes, and consumer protection.
He is a 1989 graduate of the University of Chicago
Law School and a 1986 graduate of Yale College,
a member of the Board Directors of the Chicago
Lawyers Committee For Civil Rights Under Law, and
an elected member of the American Law Institute.
Carolyn and Josh have each advised the Center on
numerous cases and projects and have been strong
supporters of the Center since it opened its doors.
Honorary Co-Chairs: Dorothy Roberts, Christopher Sullivan, Carolyn Kubitschek,
and Karl Dennis
Dorothy Roberts, Ph.D. is the University of Pennsylvania’s
fourteenth Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor. An
acclaimed scholar of race, gender and the law, she is also the
George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology.
Her appointment at Penn is shared between the School of
Law where she is the inaugural Raymond Pace and Sadie
Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and the
Department of Sociology in the School of Arts and Sciences.
A prolific writer and researcher, she is the author or co-author
of several books and has published over 70 articles and essays
in books and journals including the Harvard Law Review, the
Yale Law Journal and the Stanford Law Review. Dorothy has
done pioneering research in the areas of race, class and gender,
highlighting especially the ways in which social policy is
biased against poor, minority pregnant women and mothers.
She is one of the nation’s foremost academic legal scholars on issues regarding the child welfare system and is the
award-winning author of Shattered Bonds, The Color of Child Welfare. Dorothy is a graduate of Yale University
and Harvard Law School and serves as one of the Family Defense Center’s Champion Board Members. She is
also the academic sponsor for the organization’s Mothers’ Defense Project. Dorothy was the Family Defense
Center’s honoree for the 2009 Family Defender Award.
5
Christopher Sullivan, M.D. is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who
directs the Pediatric Orthopedics and Scoliosis Program at the University
of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital. He joined the surgery faculty at the
University of Chicago in 1989, following residencies and further training in
internal medicine, pediatric orthopedics and general orthopedics in Texas,
Illinois and California.
Chris attended college at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs,
Colorado, and attended medical school at UCLA while remaining on active
duty. While at UCLA, he also earned a Master’s Degree in public health,
focusing on epidemiology.
An outstanding teacher and clinician, Chris has developed an expertise in child abuse and bone fractures
through research, writing, and expert testimony in juvenile court and DCFS proceedings. Courts have frequently
relied on his testimony, finding his opinions more persuasive than the contrary testimony of other child abuse
specialists in several Center cases. Among these cases is In re Yohan K., a recent precedential appellate court
decision in which Chris, along with Dr. David Frim of Comer Children’s Hospital and Dr. Patrick Barnes of
Stanford University, were found to have presented persuasive testimony that Yohan’s medical conditions caused
his injuries, and the “constellation of injuries” he had, did not provide sufficient evidence of non-accidental
trauma. Chris was the Family Defense Center’s honoree for the 2010 Family Defender Award.
Carolyn Kubitschek’s precedent-setting legal work is a major reason that
there is a Family Defense Center. Her brilliant and winning legal theories in
the 1994 case Valmonte v. Bane (challenging child abuse registries and the lack
of due process in the state of New York) were instrumental to our victory in
the Illinois class action suit Dupuy v. Samuels. Dupuy, started in 1997, took
13 years to conclude and resulted in sweeping changes in the child protection
investigations and appeal system in Illinois. Carolyn’s 2004 victory in the New
York Court of Appeals in Nicholson v. Scoppetta set the precedent that domestic
violence victims possess constitutional rights to care for their children. Carolyn
is the only lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of children and
family rights in a child abuse investigation in the past 21 years, as she did in
March 2011 in Camreta/Alford v. Greene. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito,
during the oral argument in Camreta, prefaced one of his questions to her with
the observation, “You are well-versed in this area of law.”
Carolyn was a music major at Oberlin and is an accomplished pianist. After
graduating from the University of Chicago Law School, she met her now-husband and law partner David
Lansner when she worked at Mobilization for Youth (MFY) Legal Services. They formed their own law firm 15
years later, Lansner & Kubitschek. Carolyn was a clinical law professor at Hofstra University from 1985-1990,
and has been an adjunct professor at Cardozo Law School since 2003. In August 2013, Ms. Kubitschek became
Of Counsel to the Center and is appearing on the Center’s behalf in the Pennsylvania case D.M. v. Berks. Carolyn
was the Family Defense Center’s honoree for the 2011 Family Defender Award.
6
K arl Dennis is a youth worker, a teacher, and a cultivator of strengths. His
profound reputation is based on a fundamental principle which he brought
to life and seeded; that children can best be served in their families, in
their communities; that the assets and strengths of their situation are best
known to those closest to the child. He retired as the Executive Director
of Kaleidoscope, Inc., a non-profit community-based childcare agency
in Chicago, where he provided leadership and vision for 27 years. Under
Karl’s direction, Kaleidoscope became nationally recognized as one of the
top five child serving agencies in the country. He is one of the country’s
leading experts and pioneers of community-based care for the “hardest to
serve children and families,” including WrapAround services, therapeutic
foster care, pediatric AIDS care, independent living and long-term intensive
family preservation services. He has helped orchestrate many state and
private initiatives to return children from out-of-state placements, and has
provided direct services to thousands of children and their families.
Karl’s first book, Everything is Normal Until Proved Otherwise, was written in collaboration with Dr. Ira Lourie,
noted child psychiatrist and former head of CASSP. The book is a series of stories about the children and
families that Karl has worked with over the years coupled with commentary by Dr. Lourie. Written for parents
and professionals, the book provides Wraparound guidance on the effectiveness of the process when people use
creativity and compassion in the delivery of services. Karl was the 2012 Family Defender.
7
Mistress of Ceremonies: Laura Washington
L aura Washington
has been an awardwinning columnist
for the Chicago SunTimes since 2001.
She is also a political
analyst for WLS-TV,
the ABC-owned
station in Chicago.
She is a regular
commentator on
National Public Radio and Chicago Public Radio and
previously wrote a column for the Chicago Tribune.
In 2010, she served as President of the Woods Fund
following many years of service on the board of the
Fund. From 2003 to 2009, she served as the Ida B.
Wells-Barnett University Professor at DePaul
University. She edited The Chicago Reporter, a
nationally recognized investigative monthly
specializing in racial issues and urban affairs, from
1990 to 2001, and also served as its publisher from
1994 to 2001. From 1987 to 1990, she was a producer
for the investigative unit at CBS-2/Chicago. In 1985,
Ms. Washington was appointed deputy press secretary
to Mayor Harold Washington (no relation), Chicago’s
first black mayor.
Ms. Washington has been quoted in Time and
Newsweek magazines, The New York Times, and
8
appeared on NBC Nightly News and The Lehrer
News Hour. She has received more than two dozen
local and national awards for her work, including
two Chicago Emmys, the Peter Lisagor Award, the
Studs Terkel Award for Community Journalism
and the Ohio State Award for broadcast journalism.
Newsweek magazine named her one of the nation’s
“100 People to Watch” in the 21st Century. Newsweek
said: “her style of investigative journalism has made
(the Reporter) a powerful and award-winning voice.” In
1999, the Chicago Community Trust awarded her a
Community Service Fellowship “for exemplary service,
commitment and leadership in individuals from
the nonprofit sector.” In addition to her community
service for the Woods Fund of Chicago, she has
been the board secretary for The Field Museum and
has chaired the board of the Neighborhood Writing
Alliance.
Ms. Washington earned bachelor and master degrees
in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism
at Northwestern University, where she has also taught
and lectured.
The Center is delighted that Ms. Washington has
agreed to be our Mistress of Ceremonies again in 2013
and is very grateful for her efforts to make the program
meaningful and memorable.
Meet this Evening’s Artists
William Wallin
Pianist William Wallin is a retired attorney who worked in
many offices for the State of Illinois, beginning with the Attorney
General’s Office. He then focused his efforts on programs
providing rehabilitation for disabled workers and that provided
services to make it possible for disabled persons to remain in their
homes. He returned to the piano after retiring; he had studied for
about ten years as a child. He plays occasionally for his church
and other organizations. He currently studies with Dr. Svetlana
Belsky (www.svetlanabelsky.com), director of piano studies at the
University of Chicago. He also regularly attends Sonata, an adult
piano camp in Old Bennington, Vermont (www.sonatina.com).
Alejandro Romero
No artist captures human emotion better than Alejandro Romero, whose
vibrant artwork graces our invitation. Mr. Romero has generously donated his
work for our invitation and for tonight’s auction.
Alejandro Romero, one of the best-known Hispanic visual artists in the
United States, was born and educated in Mexico. He moved to Chicago
in 1975 and has adorned our city with murals, posters, and conventional
paintings. Mr. Romero’s work can also be found in the permanent collections
of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Museum of Mexican Art,
and the Art Institute in Chicago, as well as the Museum of Modern Latin
American Art in Washington, D.C., the Museum of the Print in Mexico
City, and the Hermitage in Leningrad, Russia.
9
10
Colleen Garlington, Individual Attorney Recognition Award
An Exemplary Pro Bono Attorney with a Deep Commitment to Helping Family Members
with Mental Health Disabilities
Colleen Garlington is a partner at Kirkland
& Ellis’ Chicago office working in the Intellectual
Property Department. Colleen has in-depth experience
in patent litigation including a wide variety of
patented technologies ranging from pharmaceuticals
to telecommunications. Colleen holds a J.D. from
DePaul University College of Law, where she
graduated summa cum laude, as well as a B.S. in
Microbiology from Notre Dame University. Prior to
law school, Colleen worked full time at the Chicago
Tribune as the company’s Environmental Health
and Safety Manager. Colleen’s life experiences as an
advocate for one of her own children, diagnosed with
severe ADHD, gives Colleen a special connection to
the Family Defense Center’s mission.
The Family Defense Center Recognizes Colleen
Garlington Because:
Colleen has worked closely with the Family Defense
Center representing clients in cases involving parents
or children with mental health disabilities. Colleen
understands well the stigma and misinformation
surrounding a diagnosis of mental illness. She
passionately advocates for parents who have had
adverse findings resulting from misunderstanding
of their unique mental health challenges. Colleen is
firmly committed to the ideal that the mere presence
of a mental disability does not necessarily equate to
an inability to provide a loving and supportive home
for children. She is the Center’s “go to” person for pro
bono representation of mothers faced with mental
health challenges who are wrongly accused of neglect
due to their disability alone. She has also become the
person to take on cases involving parents whose care
for a child with mental disabilities has brought them to
the attention of DCFS.
Colleen has represented four FDC clients to date, and
had handled a previous expungement case for another
legal services agency.
Her representation
of each client has
been exemplary.
She has also served
on the Center’s
Mother’s Defense
committee, hosting a
networking breakfast
for professionals
concerned with
women’s issues in the
child welfare system.
At the first Mother’s
Defense breakfast in 2012, she shared the story of
her client, Pamela H., who had been separated from
her newborn after she had objected to the manner in
which nurses were treating her while being evaluated
for mental health concerns. Even though Pam had no
history of maltreatment of her child, she was labeled as
neglectful due to creating an “environment injurious”
based on her perceived (and mislabeled) mental
health disability alone. With the FDC’s and Colleen’s
representation, and with the support of her sister and
her community, Pam was reunited with her baby and
was exonerated of the wrongful charges.
Colleen’s work also led to the exoneration of
Christine A., a mother with a history of ADD
and anxiety. Through the testimony of Christine’s
treating physicians, Colleen was able to successfully
demonstrate that Christine’s perceived behaviors
were attributable to ADD and anxiety, and that
there was no evidence that her child was ever at risk.
Along with fellow Kirkland attorney Jason Koransky,
Colleen successfully exonerated Carolyn B., a medical
professional who was wrongly accused of neglecting
her daughter. Her daughter had been diagnosed with,
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and was being treated for, severe depression. Following
a plan put in place by her daughter’s therapist that
included relying on Carolyn’s own medical training,
she assessed, monitored and supported her daughter
through a depressive episode. Because she did not call
for medical assistance or bring her daughter to an ER,
Carolyn was indicated for neglect. With the assistance
of the daughter’s therapist, Colleen and Jason were able
to show that Carolyn had been fully knowledgeable
of and appropriately attentive to her daughter’s needs.
This successful outcome also preserved Carolyn’s right
to work as a nurse with children.
Finally, Colleen recently won a hard-fought
exoneration for Alicia, a mother who had both mental
health and domestic violence issues who found herself
in a contentious custody case too.
For her hard work and outstanding service to the
Center and its clients, and her dedication to justice for
families in the child welfare system who are working
to overcome mental health challenges, Colleen is
especially deserving of this year’s Special Individual
Recognition Award. g
Major Litigation Team Award
Julie Q. Team Advances Justice for Tens of Thousands of Illinois Families
Julie Q. knew she needed help to defeat her
ex-husband’s efforts to tag her with a child
neglect finding. He called the DCFS Hotline
the day after their 9-year-old daughter began
a visit with him, while he had a pending
petition to change custody. He claimed Julie
had locked her daughter in her room and
also said she had been drinking. Neither
claim was true, for the daughter’s room had
no locks and Julie’s AA sponsor attested to
her sobriety. But under the very vague DCFS
standards defining neglect as including any
“environment injurious,” Julie’s status as
an alcoholic in recovery was used as a basis
for DCFS to affirm an indicated finding of
neglect due to this amorphous “environment
injurious” ground.
Julie Q. and her daughter, M.Q.
Julie’s daughter had been entirely unharmed.
However, it took Julie’s persistence, an outstanding
team of pro bono and amicus lawyers, and four levels
of appeals all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court
to vindicate Julie. Along with Julie’s exoneration, the
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names of thousands of other parents and caregivers who
have been wrongly labeled child neglectors have been
removed from the Illinois State Central Register because
the policy under which DCFS investigated them and
indicated them is void ab initio — void “from the start.”
On March 21, 2013, a unanimous Illinois Supreme
Court (with Justice Anne Burke not participating
in the decision) ruled in Julie Q.’s favor that DCFS
lacked legislative authority to indicate her as guilty
of child neglect. While the Illinois statute governing
DCFS’s authority in investigations originally included
“an environment injurious to the child’s welfare,”
this language had been deleted in 1980. Despite this
deletion, DCFS promulgated a rule in 2001 defining
allegations of neglect to include Allegation 60, which
is “Substantial Risk of Physical Injury/Environment
Injurious to Health and Welfare.”
The Center’s Mothers’ Defense Project clients are
particularly affected by the “environment injurious”
regulation. Being a domestic violence victim, having a
mental health diagnosis, being married to an accused
offender, being extremely poor, and/or being a teen
parent are all statuses that have been used extensively
under the “environment injurious” umbrella to label
parents as child neglectors even if they have never hurt
their children. For example, all four clients that our
honoree Colleen Garlington represented were labeled
neglectful due to same void allegation that the Julie Q.
team challenged.
The remarkable victory in Julie Q.’s case would not
have been possible but for the outstanding work by
pro bono attorneys who gave many hundreds of hours
to the cause of justice in Julie’s case. Their names and
their roles in the case are described here:
Julie Q. Direct Representation Team
Ajay Athavale, attorney for Julie Q. in Lake County
Administrative Hearing
Darren Fish, co-counsel for Julie Q. in Lake County
Administrative Hearing
Elizabeth Butler, attorney for Julie Q. in Lake County
Circuit Court Administrative Review
Precious Jacobs and Michael T. Brody (Jenner & Block) join
Center staff attorney Melissa Staas on the stairs of the Illinois
Supreme Court.
Hon. Michael Otto, attorney for Julie Q. in Illinois
Appellate Court (Second District), Briefing and
Argument (then as an associate at Jenner & Block)
Michael T. Brody, supervisory partner and co-counsel
with Michael Otto, lead attorney in Briefing and
Argument before the Illinois Supreme Court (partner,
Jenner & Block)
Precious Jacobs, co-counsel with Michael Brody in the
Illinois Supreme Court (associate, Jenner & Block)
Family Defense Center staff members Melissa Staas
and Diane Redleaf also co-counseled during all stages
of this case; Melissa provided direct representation at
the Lake County Administrative Hearing.
Julie Q.’s Amicus and Key Allies
Sara Block, former Skadden Fellow at LAF and current
Flom Incubatory Grant Fellow at FDC, conducted
initial legal research into the legislative history used to
establish that the policy of DCFS was unauthorized by
the statute.
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Richard Cozzola, LAF Supervisory Attorney, cocounsel on amicus brief in Illinois Supreme Court.
Steven Pick, LAF Senior Attorney, drafted amicus
brief in the Illinois Supreme Court.
The Family Defense Center congratulates each and
every member of the Julie Q. legal team who made
justice for Julie and thousands of Illinois residents
possible through their efforts. g
Lifetime Achievement Awards:
Eugene Pergament; Rhoda Redleaf
Recognizing the Lifetime Achievements of
Doctor Eugene Pergament — A Friend of
Families from before Conception
In raising his children, Eugene Pergament instilled
the idea that “you can do well by doing good.” Eugene
himself has done a lot of good, while managing to do
pretty well, too. The grandson of Jewish immigrants and
the son of a sign painter who did not finish high school,
Eugene has revolutionized the field of reproductive
genetics and become a prominent advocate for
reproductive justice, as well as for the rights of children
with disabilities. He has given generously to the Family
Defense Center, both financially and by instilling a
passion for justice in our longtime board member and
friend, his daughter Deborah Pergament.
Genetics in 1959.
While in graduate
school, he met his
wife Geraldine,
then a Purdue
undergraduate,
who would become
a teacher and
developmental
psychologist.
Eugene and
Geraldine married
in 1961 and they
have raised three
daughters.
After achieving
Eugene was born in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York
his doctorate,
(making him, like our other lifetime achievement
Eugene taught
awardee Rhoda Redleaf, 80 years old this year.) At
Dr. Eugene Pergament, celebrating
undergraduate
a young age his mother encouraged him to pursue
another festive occasion.
biology courses at
challenging goals; by the time he was ten years old, she
Western Illinois
had decided that he should attend Yale University. As
University. He continued to delve more deeply into
a Jewish child, however, he faced discrimination along
human genetics and entered medical school at the
the way to this goal, a hardship that has contributed
University of Chicago in his mid-30s. He completed
to his passion for social justice in adulthood. In the
his residency at Wyler Children’s Hospital in 1972.
1940s, he moved with his family to Connecticut. Upon
Eugene began his medical career specializing in pediatric
completing high school, he fulfilled his mother’s and
genetics then transitioned to reproductive genetics in the
his own dream by receiving a scholarship from the
early 1980s.
City of New Haven to attend Yale University. He duly
graduated from Yale, and in 1955 moved to the Midwest While practicing as a pediatric geneticist, he provided
to study at Purdue University, where he earned a Ph.D in counseling to families affected by genetic conditions and
14
nuchal translucency, and biomarkers and noninvasive
prenatal genetic testing. He continues to work
on research involving array comparative genomic
hybridization and the isolation of fetal cells from
maternal plasma. He supports early intervention and
educational services for children with disabilities and
has made significant contributions to the development
of newborn screening programs throughout the United
States.
In caring for patients regardless of their age, Eugene
is known for his compassion, patience, humor and
kindness. Many patients comment on his ability to
explain difficult concepts and make them feel at ease
during medical procedures.
A happy couple, Geraldine and Eugene, dance
oversaw evaluation and treatment programs for
children with developmental and neuromuscular
disabilities. As a reproductive geneticist, Eugene has
provided clinical services to thousands of patients in the
Chicago area and helped to develop techniques that are
utilized throughout the world to provide information
to pregnant women and their partners. As a faculty
member at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine,
and through genetic counseling programs, he has taught
and mentored thousands of students, many of whom
have had major accomplishments in their fields.
Eugene has established himself as a respected editor of
the major journals in his field and a writer and reviewer
of articles in his areas of expertise. Although primarily
a clinical researcher, he has also contributed to basic
science research on gene expression. Through his clinical
work, he set a higher standard for genetic study and
practice. In the United States in the 1980s, for example,
he pioneered the use of chorionic villi sampling that
tests the health of a fetus in the first trimester. He
has been instrumental in the development of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, clinical applications
of fluorescent in situ hybridization, genetic screening
techniques involving ultrasound measurements of
Eugene’s work in reproductive genetics has led him
to advocate reproductive justice, and he has been an
expert witness in several cases involving these issues.
He has collaborated with attorneys, legal scholars, and
bioethicists on policy studies, articles and book chapters
about ethical, legal, and social issues arising from
genetic testing and technologies. This work has focused
on promoting the ethical use of genetic information and
the right to exercise reproductive choice. Because of this,
some of his work is considered controversial by some in
the United States, but he has remained steadfast about
the importance of providing information and options
to childbearing families. He is highly regarded in Israel,
Asia and Europe. He has been recognized at the annual
Fetal Medicine Foundation World Congress and other
symposia sponsored by the Fetal Medicine Foundation
(FMF), headquartered in London. The head of FMF,
Kypros Nicolaides, a prominent maternal fetal medicine
specialist and a world expert in fetal surgery and
interventions has said, “You must know that you are not
only an inspiration to me, but for a very big number of
doctors.”
Developments in human genetics mirror developments
in Eugene’s career as he is a lifelong learner. Despite his
extraordinary achievements, he continues to challenge
himself and refers to himself as a “journeyman
15
Pergament confers with Dr. Anna Schultz (Poland)
at the 2012 World Fetal Medicine Congress,
Kos, Greece.
geneticist” – not quite at the master level yet. A profile
about him in Gina Kolata’s The Baby Doctors: Probing the
Limits of Fetal Medicine describes him as “disarmingly
candid.” His modesty about his professional
achievements extends to his personal life, and most of
his philanthropy is done anonymously. When asked
about his greatest achievements, Eugene quoted Stephen
Hawking, saying “my children”.
Eugene is beloved by his family and community. His
daughter Deborah speaks fondly of instances when
a neighbor asked him for parenting advice and notes
the devotion and admiration of his past and present
students, employees, and colleagues. His daughter
Rachel has said that he is a loyal friend and one of the
most generous people she knows. She describes him as
an “advocate for the underdog,” helping people who
might otherwise be unable to raise their voices. His
daughter Paula admires his determination to balance his
professional commitments with spending time with his
family and his enthusiasm for their interests. Among his
hobbies and interests is art: he is a collector as well as an
amateur artist, taking drawing classes with Paula at the
Art Institute of Chicago.
The Family Defense Center’s work in mothers’ defense
can also be considered reproductive justice work. The
Center supports the rights of women and their partners
to exercise choices with regard to their pregnancies.
16
The Center supports the rights of families to receive
information and care from their physicians and
healthcare providers that respects the parents’ autonomy
and does not result in labeling parents as child abusers
or neglecters based on the health care decisions they
make. For these reasons, we believe it is especially
appropriate to recognize the achievements of a leading
reproductive geneticist who has advanced science and
helped thousands of would-be parents as they embark on
starting families of their own.
We honor Dr. Eugene Pergament tonight for his
achievements in his field, for his dedication to justice for
families in the child welfare system and for social justice.
We honor him for his inspiring and generous spirit
that has touched so many people, and for enabling his
children to share the lessons he has taught and to share
those lessons with us.
Recognizing the Lifetime Achievements of
Rhoda Redleaf: A Tireless Advocate for Children
and an Inspiring Co-Creator of the Family
Defense Center
Rhoda Redleaf never tires
of children. For over
sixty years, she has
dedicated herself
to early childhood
education,
especially focusing
on improving
access to childcare
resources for
children in lower
income families. Not
content to be a teacher
of children alone,
Rhoda has dedicated
herself to being a teacher
of teachers, care givers, and parents. Because her
exemplary career spans the entire history of publicly
supported pre-school and early education programs
in America, she can be considered a true child
development pioneer and a national leader in the field.
It’s no surprise that there is a child development press
named for her: Redleaf Press. As the mother of Family
Defense Center Founder and Executive Director Diane
Redleaf, Rhoda’s tenacious and passionate leadership
clearly rubbed off on her daughter.
With her husband Paul Redleaf, a retired physician who
turned to trading options in mid-life, Rhoda has been
widely recognized for significant philanthropy. The
Family Defense Center would
not exist but for their financial
and moral support in creating the
Center. Paul and Rhoda provided
five years of seed money for the
Center’s creation. They continue
to be leading supporters, through
their own gifts and through
donations from the family
foundation they created many
years ago.
Born in 1933 in Cleveland, Ohio
to immigrant Jewish parents, Charles and Gertrude
Rosen, Rhoda was the only daughter. She had an
older and a younger brother. Rhoda Rosen enrolled
in Cornell University in 1950. There, as a freshman,
she met and fell in love with Paul Redleaf, a senior
who was heading for Columbia Medical School.
After her sophomore year, she transferred to Sarah
Lawrence to be nearer to Paul, They were married
the following year when Rhoda was only 20 years old.
Sarah Lawrence proved a wonderful choice for Rhoda,
as she explained: “Attitudes towards early childhood
education have changed a lot over time. Sarah Lawrence
operated very much under the influence of Anna Freud,
Erik Erikson and John Dewey, so when I graduated
from college, the pre-school philosophy focused on the
importance of the social/emotional development of
young children—encouraging dramatic play, creative
learning in cooperative settings. Frankly, the philosophy
at that time was children didn’t learn anything until
they were five. It’s hard to believe now that anybody
would have actually thought that. After Sputnik in
1957, the academic thrust in early childhood education
began to spread past Sarah Lawrence. I was particularly
fascinated by the work of Jean Piaget who did interesting
experiments showing how children develop intellectually
over distinct stages, and that has been a lifelong interest
of mine as I’ve worked to improve child development
curricula in preschool programs.”
Late in 1954, after Rhoda’s graduation from Sarah
Lawrence with a B.A. in early childhood education,
her first child, Diane, was born. Paul and Rhoda
moved to Minnesota while Diane was still a baby for
Paul to pursue an internship at the highly regarded
University of Minnesota Medical Center. Rhoda
began to teach first grade in Minneapolis. After
his internship and a year of research fellowship,
Paul was required to enlist in
military service, so the family
moved to the Ft. Knox area
for two years. Andy was born
just before their move. During
Paul’s Army service, Rhoda
worked as a substitute teacher
and teacher trainer at the notvery-sophisticated (from a child
development perspective) nursery
school at the Army base in Ft.
Knox which Diane attended.
After two years in Ft. Knox, Paul and Rhoda made
the fateful decision to return to Minnesota for Paul’s
residency, aware that this decision meant they would
likely settle there permanently. At the time, Rhoda was
not 100% supportive of Paul’s vision of living on a lake
in such a low-key environment. This was long before the
time when Garrison Keillor popularized Minnesota’s
“above-average” advantages. Rhoda took up early
childhood teaching again, this time substitute teaching
kindergarten in the Minneapolis Public Schools. In
17
1961, Paul settled into a leading internal medical
practice in St. Paul after completing his residency.
Diane’s youngest siblings, Karen and Eric, were born
a few years later. Rhoda found herself growing to love
Minnesota as much as Paul did. Except for their many
and wonderful vacations and a couple of years they
spent commuting to Chicago, they have never left.
Paul and Rhoda Redleaf, more recently.
* * *
Well-trained in child development through her
undergraduate work at Sarah Lawrence, possessing an
enormous reserve of patience and an innate talent for
understanding young children and working closely
with them, Rhoda enthusiastically engaged children
in fun learning opportunities that built their cognitive
and social skills. With Paul settled in his medical
practice, Rhoda was recruited to direct the Macalester
College’s laboratory nursery school called the Blue
Door. She also led the preschool programs at the Jewish
Community Center nursery school and preschool day
camp in St. Paul. It was during this period that Rhoda
began to recognize that systemic change would be most
effectively achieved only by educating the adults charged
with the “very important task of teaching and caring for
children during the most formative period of their lives.”
In 1966, Rhoda joined the Day Care Licensing Division
of the Minnesota Department of Public Welfare as a
18
teacher and trainer, administering on-the-job training
for day care center staff, developing training resources,
and planning and conducting workshops. For the next
several years, Rhoda served as a consultant for Early
Learning Resources, and was involved in the earliest
development of local Head Start programs which
aimed to provide comprehensive education and care for
preschool aged children from low-income households.
Though the Head Start program continues today to
serve thousands of children every year in all fifty states,
it was considered extremely innovative at a time when
attention had only recently been turned to the negative
impact of poverty on education and development.
In 1971, as a member of the National Council of
Jewish Women, Rhoda helped found the Greater
St. Paul Council for Coordinated Child Care which
later developed the Toys and Things Training and
Resource Center. Rhoda was hired by the St. Paul
Public Schools Adult Vocational Division to develop
an on-the-job training program for child care workers;
her office was based at the Resource Center. Later,
the Resource Center became Resources for Child
Caring (recently renamed “Think Small” in 2012).
With Rhoda’s leadership, Resources for Child Caring
developed a program to improve the quality of early
childhood settings by establishing the “Toymobile,”
a mobile toy lending library. The Toymobile visited
family child care homes, allowing children to
enjoy supervised play time while their caretakers
simultaneously received much-needed training to
significantly improve the quality of their care. With
this experience in hand, Rhoda went on to help found
the USA Toy Library Association in 1984 and has
been a national leader in the toy library movement ever
since.
Rhoda’s devotion to helping children develop strong
cognitive skills to facilitate and prepare for success later
in life was not limited, however, to starting Head Start
and toy lending library programs. She has authored
many books: Open the Door, Let’s Explore; Teachables
from Trashables; Teachables II; Busy
Fingers Growing Minds; Open the Door, Let’s
Explore More; and Learn and Play the Recycle Way. More
recently she has added Learn and Play the Green Way
and Hey Kids! Out the Door, Let’s Explore! to her canon.
All of her books prompt children to engage in dramatic
play with the outdoors or with everyday objects. In a
time when toys can be prohibitively expensive even
for middle class families, Rhoda’s focus on creating
“teachables” from “trashables” make easy-to-create
toys accessible to all children, and especially to those
from lower income families. Redleaf Press, a division of
Think Small, was named in honor of Rhoda Redleaf,
and it continues to publish and distribute awardwinning books for early childhood professionals.
As if she weren’t busy or productive enough already, as
soon as her youngest child graduated from high school
in 1983, she decided to pursue a Master’s Degree in
Early Childhood Education at the Erikson Institute
in Chicago. This meant commuting to Chicago from
Minnesota. Paul was working with their son Andy
on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange and was
already commuting to Chicago every week himself. This
schedule would have exhausted anyone but Rhoda and
Paul! Rhoda was awarded her master’s degree in 1985;
this gave her an overdue formal credential in a field that
she had already been leading. Rhoda decided to return to
Minnesota, realizing that she already had the perfect job
with the St. Paul Public Schools. She retired in 1989.
After retiring Rhoda has stayed on as a
founding board member and has been a very
active supporter of Think Small’s Debra Fish
Early Childhood Library for many years. She
continues to prepare story kits and chair its Friends
Committee and annual fundraising book sale.
Rhoda still teaches classes and presents workshops
in Minnesota and elsewhere. In 2013 she renewed
her volunteer work leading early childhood education
programs by developing a new Kindergarten readiness
project in the Robbinsdale school district, through
her affiliation with Branching Out in New Directions
(“BOND”). She is also working on yet another
project to expand the services of a home visiting and
preschool program called “Way To Grow” in the
Minneapolis inner city. Meet with Rhoda now, and
the first thing she will talk about after sharing family
updates are the challenges and rewards of working
in the Robbinsdale program. There are no signs that
Rhoda will ever stop leading child care programs.
* *
*
Rhoda’s passion for early childhood education was
not by any means limited to the classroom. “She was
always conducting Piagetian experiments on us,”
Diane fondly recalls. For example, Rhoda would run
informal tests on her own children to see if Diane
and her siblings yet possessed the concept that the
quantity of a liquid is conserved despite changes
in the apparent height of its container. To this day,
Diane remembers her mother pouring water from a
tall skinny jar to a shorter wider one then soliciting
if she and her siblings thought there was the same
amount of liquid in both jars.
Her energy seems to have no bounds. Described as
innately sociable and outgoing, she has always been
a strong feminist, which was highly unusual in the
late '50s and early ‘60s. Diane recalls growing up
in a time when many women simply did not work
outside the home; combining a demanding career
with child raising wasn’t commonplace in the years
19
before Betty Freidan. Despite working very hard on
her career throughout her child-rearing years, Rhoda
and Paul raised four very successful children.
Rhoda
has always
encouraged
Diane to have
a career herself.
Based on her
mother’s advice
and everyday
example
it seemed
“unthinkable
not to have a
career.” Diane
adds, “She was
Paul and Rhoda with Diane, Anatoly (Diane’s
also especially
husband), and grandchildren, Brian and
Jonathan, c. 1993.
pleased when I
decided not to
pursue graduate school in philosophy and to become a
lawyer instead.” Rhoda’s road as a childcare advocate
had its share of frustrations, and one of them is that
she often felt that her chosen career and the women
pursuing it weren’t taken as seriously as they should be.
When considering Diane’s work, Rhoda said, “Diane
grew up in a family dedicated to public service and
education and childcare. She knew all about that.
All my kids did. But I didn’t know that she would
go into child protection, family defense and civil
rights law, and didn’t particularly steer her to law,
although I’m not at all surprised.” Diane says, “I
think Mom viewed law as a very empowering career,
and it is.” Rhoda and her husband, Paul, not only
placed an emphasis on learning and education, but
were also extremely sensitive to and supportive of the
individual pursuits of each of their children.
Rhoda and Paul’s commitment to public service,
education and opportunities for children extends to
20
their work as philanthropists. In addition to ongoing
support for the Family Defense Center and Think
Small, Rhoda and Paul have provided major funding
for the creation of the Minnesota ACLU’s Racial
Justice Project. From its initial base in Bemidji,
Minnesota focused on justice for Native Americans, it
expanded to Mankato, Minnesota in 2011 to address
civil liberties issues in the Hispanic community.
Rhoda and Paul have recently created a social justice
internship program for students at Carleton College,
Diane’s alma mater.
On her 60th birthday, Rhoda’s four children and seven
grandchildren presented her the “Grandparent-Parent
Achievement Award” for her tireless dedication to
her family. Now, upon her 80th birthday, a greatgrandparent achievement award is due her, as Rhoda
welcomed her first great-grandchild, Reagan, on
September 24, 2012. Rhoda never tires of visits to
her grandchildren and great grandchild who are now
spread from New York to San Diego, often convincing
Paul to join her in attending each child’s graduation or
performance.
There are few signs of Rhoda slowing down. Last July,
Paul and Rhoda drove from Minnesota to Nova Scotia
and back, stopping in Quebec to join Diane and her
husband Anatoly for their 25th wedding anniversary
dinner. Rhoda’s energy would be impressive in
a person of any age. Her upbeat spirit, deep and
insightful interest in the world, and her generosity
continues to inspire everyone she meets. Even though
she’s reached the grand age of 80, Rhoda continues to
pursue her passions for early childhood learning and
her love of family with the same drive she had when
Diane and her siblings were young. Untold thousands
of children have benefited from Rhoda’s dedication to
their wellbeing. For this, the Family Defense Center
is proud to recognize Rhoda Redleaf with its 2013
Lifetime Achievement Award. g
We are proud to celebrate the
achievements of
Anita Weinberg,
Rhoda Redleaf,
Eugene Pergament,
and the Family Defense
Center
Geraldine, Rachel, Paula, and
Deborah Pergament
To Rhoda
and all you have done for children in Minnesota
So special honoring your service to Toys ‘N Things
which became Resources for Child Caring, and now
Think Small. The press division has long honored
your contributions: Redleaf Press.
Mary Ann & David Wark
21
Dear Rhoda/Mom:
You have been defending our family for as long as
any of us can remember. You have instilled in all of
us the belief in early childhood education and in
supporting families. A lifetime achievement award
recognizing you for all your wonderful work on
behalf of children and families (including ours!) is
overdue. The Family Defense Center has validated
what we all already knew!
Congratulations.
With love,
Paul Redleaf
Diane Redleaf and Anatoly Libgober
Andy and Lynne Redleaf
Karen Redleaf
Eric and Melissa Redleaf
22
We’re proud of our friend
Rhoda Redleaf
for all she has done for children and families
in our own state of Minnesota
and for children and families everywhere.
She is an inspiration to all of us.
Elaine S. Alper
Jill A. Kaufman
Millie Miller
Sheila Joy Davis
Delores L. Kelber
Saralee & Neil Mogilner
Arlene Dockman
Miriam W Kieffer
Barbara Ratner
Erna Fishhaut
Shirley Korengold
Lenore J. Ravits
Nancy Garber
Dale J. Krishef
Connie & Paul Ross
Gloria Gold
Renee M. Kurnow
Berneen Rose Rudolph
Rivoli Golden
Shirleymae Lane
Judy Serrell
Sheila A. Goldstein
Diane M. Lerberg
Pneena & Sheldon Sheps
Doreen Greenblat
Beverly London
Elaine R. Steinman
Jon Jacka
Sandra Mandel
Nancy Strauss
Merle Kane
Lenore Miller
23
Meet Anita Weinberg: Passionate Policymaker and Strategist;
Child and Family Advocate
By Diane L. Redleaf
Anita Weinberg’ s career as a child and family
advocate spans nearly four decades, with
roots stretching back even longer. Her work
on improving the lives of children and their
connections to family pre-dates my own
work on policy issues involving children and
families. Yet, Anita’s work and mine have
intersected repeatedly and fortuitously since
1983. When we first met, Anita was already
chairing meetings and leading special projects,
all while attending law school. She and her
husband Mark Miller were also planning for
the birth of their first child, Shira, when we
Anita and her husband, Mark Miller
first started to work together on children’s
policy projects. I didn’t yet know her well, but
avocation was a shared passion that infused their lives
there was something very impressive about Anita even
with togetherness and meaning. They are best known
then. It was hard not to take her seriously and hard not
for their trilogy on Clarence Darrow, including
to be convinced by her advocacy for changes that the
Attorney for the Damned. Other books included, for
foster care system needed to make. I didn’t know then
example, The Muckrakers, a compilation of historic
that Anita would go on to forge one of the country’s
articles that exposes the abuses of industry and
first policy advocacy legal clinics for children. If I had
politics and serves to raise awareness among a new
been asked, however, if I thought Anita would be a
generation of writers and readers for the potential of
policy leader for children and families in the future, I
journalism. Instead of Violence includes the writings
would have said, “Of course,” because she already was
of advocates of peace and nonviolence throughout
doing exactly that even before she had finished law
history and was studied by conscientious objectors
school.
during the Vietnam War. Both of Anita’s parents
had “day jobs” in publishing fields — her father was
* * *
a trade journalist for Fairchild Press and her mother
Anita’s social justice interests and commitments are
worked for the University of Chicago Press while
deep and ingrained. She had an enviably close-knit
Anita was growing up.
family. Her parents, Arthur and Lila Weinberg, had
a marriage that was especially rare: they were writer/
The Weinbergs lived modestly. Anita recalls that
scholars who worked together throughout their lives
her family’s two-bedroom South Shore apartment
on numerous books about social justice movements.
housed six people: her two sisters, her parents and her
Her father worked his way through night school
grandfather, who lived with the family and helped
for seven years to earn a bachelor’s degree, and her
care for the children while her parents went off to the
mother left college to work. But their remarkable
Newberry Library on the weekends. Anita credits the
24
three generation family living arrangement in part for
her strong beliefs about the importance of family.
Following a family tradition, Anita became an editor
of her high school newspaper and started to write
about social justice issues herself. In high school,
Anita was already considering blending law and
social work careers — during a month long project,
she chose to work at the University of Chicago’s
Mandel Legal Aid Clinic — but she didn’t quite
know how to make the combination of fields work
or what sort of job would come out of it. She had
few role models for such a combined career path.
As an undergraduate interdisciplinary major in
Political Science, Sociology and Psychology, Anita
worked with two other students to establish a juvenile
justice project that involved reintegrating youth
being released from correctional facilities into the
community. That project strengthened Anita’s resolve
to work on behalf of social justice.
Anita applied to combined graduate programs in law
and social work and started a dual degree program at
Washington University in the fall of 1975. The program
was very new and Anita still remained uncertain as
to how she would be able — or want — to use her
combined degree. Seeing herself as a follower in the
Jane Addams tradition, a traditional law school path
was not the one Anita wanted for herself. After starting
at Washington University, she decided to forego the
dual degree program for a more traditional social work
program. She abruptly switched gears and moved to
New York, enrolling in Columbia University’s School of
Social Work.
Anita was still not certain she had chosen the right
path until her second year of graduate school, when
she landed a field placement at the Child Welfare
League of America (CWLA). There she began to work
directly with a woman she considers a “phenomenal
mentor,” Elizabeth (“Betsy”) Cole, who directed the
League’s policy advocacy work. Anita began working
on issues involving the adoption of special needs
children. She also began to research issues leading
up to the landmark foster care reform legislation
known as 96-272 or the Adoption Assistance and
Child Welfare Act of 1980. The research Anita did
included documenting what came to be known as
“foster care drift” — children who bounced from
home to home and never secured a permanent home
of their own after having been taken from their
families of origin. The Congressional hearings that
took place prior to the passage of the Act centered on
documenting this problem and finding solutions. The
work on this legislation solidified Anita’s commitment
to the importance of family reunification efforts,
when appropriate, for children in foster care. She was
soon the right hand aide to one of the leading child
advocates in the country. It was a heady time for Anita,
and from then on, she had no doubts about her interest
and direction as a children and family advocate.
Anita stayed on as a staff member at CWLA for five
years, writing and co-editing the important book
Establishing Parent Involvement in Foster Care Agencies.
She also co-wrote a seminal article on parent-child
visiting that appears in Mark Hardin’s collection Foster
Children and the Courts, an American Bar Association
publication that contains many important articles for
lawyers trying to address legal problems foster children
face. Anita’s article later became another fortunate
connection between us, for visiting issues soon became
my own focal point when I first tackled systemic
problems in the Illinois child welfare system.
In 1979, Anita re-met Mark Miller, a college friend
of Anita’s twin sister Hedy. Mark was working for a
magazine in New York City at the time. Anita and
Mark married in 1981. When Mark was ready to
move on in his career, Anita suggested that he should
consider applying for journalism positions in Chicago
because they wanted to be closer to family. He landed
a job as Assistant Managing Editor at Crain’s Chicago
Business — where he later became Managing Editor
25
and then Editor in Chief. Anita and Mark moved
back to Chicago and Anita’s long-standing plan of
combining law and social work finally got the boost
Anita needed. She enrolled in Loyola Law School’s
night school program in the fall of 1982. She saw law
school as a means to get back into the direct service
work she had originally sought, rather than continue
to focus solely on policy. In the summers between her
school years in law school, she worked at Rush Medical
Center in 1983 and at the ACLU of Illinois in 1984.
When one talks with Anita, it is clear she is committed
to the importance of practice and research informing
policy and legislative reform, and how important her
own experiences working directly with children and
families have been to informing her work.
I first met Anita through then-Loyola law student
Mary Bird, who was a law clerk working with me
at the Women’s Law Project of the Legal Assistance
Foundation (LAF). Mary mentioned that Loyola
was looking for additional adjunct professors to teach
sections of a client interviewing, counseling and
negotiation class. It sounded interesting. I quickly
signed up for the position, and Anita happened to be
enrolled in my class. Anita was a fine student who
showed great promise as a counselor and negotiator, but
our child advocacy connections with each other weren’t
forged then. That connection happened a few months
later when I had started a new LAF project called the
Children’s Rights Project in the spring of 1984. In
my new position, I started reaching out to professors,
organizations, and advocates I knew in order to learn
more about the child welfare system. I hoped to begin
to focus legal advocacy on the most important problems
children and families faced in that complex system.
While I was doing my own research on the child
welfare system, I went to Loyola Law Professor Diane
Geraghty. She gave me a copy of a law school paper
that Anita Weinberg had written on implementation
of P.L. 96-272. It turned out that Anita’s years of work
at the Child Welfare League of America had both
26
enabled her to identify important issues of law and
policy applicable to the Illinois child welfare system
and to immediately connect to Illinois organizations
working on foster care reform. Anita continued to
consult for the CWLA on small projects, and to work
in Illinois for the reforms that P. L. 96-272 required.
In the fall of 1984, I started to attend Illinois Action
for Foster Children meetings. I was a bit surprised but
even more delighted to see that Anita, my own former
Loyola Law student, had assumed a leadership role
in the leading child welfare advocacy organization
in Illinois. It began to seem like destiny that Anita,
already so wellversed in the
most important
issues facing
children in the
child welfare
system, would
soon start to
work closely
with me. In the
summer of 1985,
she came to work
as a summer
law clerk in the
still-new Children’s Rights Project I supervised. Anita
researched DCFS visiting protocols, leading the way
for the Project’s first class action lawsuit on behalf of
families in the child welfare system, and court delays,
which was another issue that became a focus of Project
work.
Anita graduated from law school in 1986. She
started work as a supervisory attorney at Jewish
Family and Community Services, a position in
which she advised social workers about their legal
responsibilities including mandates, confidentiality
and expectations if they were testifying in court.
While it seemed the perfect fit for her combined lawsocial work background, she was the sole attorney in
by the Children’s Rights
Project on sound visiting
policies and how to implement
those policies while the Bates
case was pending and after
it settled. (The settlement
agreement provided that
parents would receive weekly
in-home visits, initiated within
ten days of child’s placement
into foster care).
Anita was eager to work in
court on behalf of children and
families and on other issues
involved in reforming the child
Anita (second from left) leads students and other advocates at the bill signing with
Governer Quinn.
welfare system. She recently
reminded me that, in 1986,
I had assured her there soon
the division and came to want more colleagues and
would be openings for her to do exactly the kind of
legal mentors. She stayed in touch with me during
work she wanted. “I’m working on a lawsuit and there
this early period in her law and social work career,
will be a job for you,” she recalls I had told her. Sure
seeing our connection as a way to remain involved
enough, by the spring of 1987, a newly-constituted
in cutting-edge policy issues that would utilize her
Juvenile Division of the Office of Public Guardian was
advanced knowledge of the child welfare system
hiring a number of attorneys to represent children in
and the law. While still a new attorney at JFCS, she
juvenile court proceedings. The division had started
quickly assumed the role of an expert witness for the
after LAF’s Children’s Right Project, under my
plaintiffs in the first class action suit we filed in the
leadership with my co-counsel Bob Lehrer, Helene
Children’s Rights Project, Bates v. Johnson.
Snyder and Jeanette Tamayo, had sued the Cook
Bates challenged the DCFS practice at the time
County Board of Commissioners for failing to provide
of allowing children in foster care only visits with
counsel to children as required by the Illinois juvenile
their parent(s) of only one hour a month. Given
Court Act. The suit led then-Circuit Court Chief
there were court delays of 14 months, on average,
Judge Harry Comerford to appoint Patrick T. Murphy,
before the cases of children in DCFS foster care were
the Public Guardian for elderly and disabled persons
adjudicated, the severe limits on contact between
at the time, to lead the new juvenile division. With
children and their parents caused devastating longpositions for over a dozen additional lawyers interested
term harm to these children’s development and
in child welfare, it was clear that there was both a place
family life. Even children who were not adjudicated
and a need for someone with Anita’s experience.
abused or neglected effectively lost their attachment
Those early years at the Office of Public Guardian
to their parents due to court delays and restricted
were a wonderful time in which to be a child advocate.
contact alone. As the author of an important article
Many excellent and enthusiastic young attorneys
about visiting issues, Anita was regularly consulted
27
and social workers, including a number who have
gone on to have long and distinguished careers in
child welfare, social work, public interest law and/
or academia, gravitated to the office. These attorneys
included Annette Appell, Mary Bird, Julie Biehl,
Susan Bradshaw, Mary Burns, Mike Dsida, Kathleen
Kennedy, Kris Lehker, Lee Ann Lowder and Susan
Tone Pierce. Tom Grippando joined as a senior
statesman in the office. Helene Snyder left LAF to join
the staff. Denise Kane headed the Office of Public
Guardian’s social work unit. Later, Anita helped to
recruit Rich Cozzola to direct attorney training at
the office. Rich later went on to be the first Program
Director at the ChildLaw Center at Loyola and then to
head the Children’s Project at LAF in 1996.
In November 1990, Anita was offered a fellowship
through the Governor’s office to work on legislation
issues that were close to her heart. Illinois was out of
compliance with the requirements of P.L. 96-272 that
commanded states to provide children in foster care
with permanent homes. Timely court reviews were not
occurring. There was not a functioning permanency
hearing system. Anita’s fellowship project aimed to fix
these very troubling problems.
Still well aware of the work Anita was doing and
her interests in making Illinois’ child welfare system
conform to federal law requirements, I kept my own
eyes open at for a position at LAF that would enable
Anita’s ambitious policy reform agenda to flourish.
By 1991, I had succeeded. Thanks to the fortunate
decision of LAF to create a Homeless Advocacy Project
and to promote Laurene Heybach to head that project,
a staff position in the Children’s Rights Project was
open. By now, Anita had three children (Beth was
born in 1987 and Asher in 1991), so her preference was
to work part-time. As the head of a child and familyfocused project, I thought it important to support
a staff member who wanted to combine family and
career obligations. Fortunately, I was able to convince
LAF’s Executive Director Sheldon Roodman to
28
approve a job-sharing arrangement for Anita and Mary
Bird for each to work three days a week.
These were wonderful years for us. Anita and I both
look back very fondly at her time at LAF. Her favorite
positions, she says now, were the ones that let her
combine direct representation of clients with legislative
advocacy. LAF emphasized these opportunities. It had
a cadre of attorneys with a shared vision, a concern
about social justice, interest in helping individuals and
changing the ways in which governmental policies
and practices hurt them. Anita got to work on major
legislative reforms during her time at LAF, pushing
through the permanency legislation that she had
started to draft during her fellowship through the
Governor’s office. I marveled at how she did it, for
many times during the drafting and negotiations of
the permanency legislation, I was ready to give up in
frustration with the positions our adversaries pressed.
Not Anita. She was the epitome of patience even as she
tenaciously crafted and advocated solutions that would
accommodate competing interests.
LAF was changing though, making our mutual
heyday of child welfare legislative policy reform
merely a short interlude in each of our separate and
challenging careers. Major changes in the legal
landscape were afoot at the same time. In Suter v.
Artist M, the United States Supreme Court held that
a key provision in P.L. 96-272 could not be enforced.
I had coordinated amicus briefing in the Supreme
Court in the case but, in a 6-3 decision against the
children plaintiffs, the Supreme Court declared
that the requirement that states make “reasonable
efforts” to prevent placement of children or to reunite
families was too vague to be enforced. This decision
dramatically limited LAF’s ability to continue to bring
suits seeking family-based services to reunite children
and families.
Events outside the courts also had a dramatic impact
on the Illinois child welfare system. In 1993, a child
named Joseph Wallace returned home to his mother
a child’s best interests. That list became
law in 1998.
Amidst the many major setbacks to
our own ongoing efforts to bring about
progressive changes that facilitated
supporting children in their own
homes, one positive outcome was
that Illinois responded to the tragedy
by creating the Office of the DCFS
Inspector General. Denise Kane was
named the new Inspector General.
Suddenly I found that my two excellent
staff attorneys, Anita Weinberg and
Mary Bird, were both in high demand
by someone outside of LAF.
Anita’s students at a legislative hearing.
and died in horrifying circumstances. For over a
month, headlines blared against DCFS and the
juvenile court for allowing Joseph Wallace to return
home to his very troubled mother. The Illinois foster
care population exploded immediately after Joseph
Wallace’s tragic death, as judges and DCFS effectively
stopped returning children home to their families.
The Illinois child welfare system was suddenly
besieged, due to what Richard Wexler, long-time
Executive Director of the National Coalition for Child
Protection Reform, has called a “foster care panic.”
There were also calls for massive legislative changes
that would have eliminated vital protections for
families facing separation.
In response to these calls, while she was on the staff at
LAF, Anita helped plan a statewide conference focused
on the “best interest of the child.” She recalls sitting
on the floor in a meeting room, during the lunch
hour, with Annette Appell (now an FDC Champion
Board member) reviewing the flip chart pages from the
breakout sessions’ proceedings and developing a list of
factors to be considered by the court when deciding
“Remind me, Anita, why did you take
that job with the Office of Inspector
General?” I asked this twenty years
later, so I could hardly recall why Anita would have
decided to leave LAF. Moreover, Anita had just been
reminding me that she had loved working with me at
LAF and hadn’t wanted to leave, for her responsibilities
at LAF combined her interests perfectly. From my
perspective, Anita’s departure was not something I had
welcomed at all. Anita responded to my question by
saying that the position offered the possibility to move
forward a shared agenda and that she had expected
to be gone from LAF only for a year. Moreover, she
was legitimately concerned that her job at LAF did
not seem very secure given that she was a part-time
job sharing staff member. Her position at the OIG
involved a special project addressing the case review
system following the adoption of the permanency
legislation she herself had created. Perhaps Anita was
prescient, though, as LAF’s legislative advocacy hands
were tied by Congressional legislation in 1996. While
Anita left LAF two years before these restrictions took
hold, I too left LAF in the spring of 1996.
Anita stayed at the Office of the Inspector General
29
until 1998 when she joined the Loyola ChildLaw
Program faculty. By then she had already taught
Law and Social Work since 1990 at the University of
Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.
Dean Nina Appel encouraged her to pursue clinical
teaching not only because, in her words, “teaching is
wonderful,” but because it provided a way for Anita to
create new generations of students who can carry out
her work.
At Loyola, Anita helped establish the Children’s
Summer Institute, an interdisciplinary program cotaught with Erikson Institute and Loyola Social Work
and Psychology faculty. This Institute covers the full
range of subjects that come into play in understanding
children’s true “best interests.” Her innovative
school-year courses include a legislation seminar that
has evolved into a legislation clinic (one of the first
such clinics in the country) and a domestic violence
seminar.
Council to develop a novel partnership wherein law
students, under her supervision, educate members of
the Council on the legislative process and legislative
advocacy. They then work together to develop a
legislative agenda and to carry forward that agenda.
It’s a challenge, of course, to supervise and direct
students who are novices in this area of work. It’s also
a challenge to tailor-make projects in which students
can take a leading role during a one semester course.
As a master in overcoming challenges that would
stymie less skillful clinicians, Anita has managed
consistently to forge unique learning opportunities
for students that make a positive difference for
children and families at the same time.
No matter what Anita decides to pursue as her core
subjects of interest, she always seems to be at the
cutting edge, and pretty soon she usually becomes the
leader.
In Anita’s legislation seminar and clinic, she’s been able
to work on — and involve students in — a broad array
of major legislative projects on children’s health, child
welfare, and, hearkening back to her earliest work
as a college student, on juvenile justice reforms. She
has worked with students to protect attorney-client
privilege and confidentiality, on legislation to clarify
standards for revoking guardianship of minors, to
clarify options for mothers considering giving up their
children for adoption, streamlining expungement of
juvenile arrest records, reforming the laws concerning
youth identified as sexually offending, and proposing
standards concerning juvenile competency to stand
trial, to name a few. In each of these efforts, students
Anita at a community gathering.
research the legislative history of existing legislation
they are proposing to change, research current and
* * *
best practice (including surveying of other states),
drafting legislation, developing fact sheets and
For nearly the entire time Anita has been at Loyola,
sometimes meeting with legislators.
her “lead” issue has not been child welfare policy,
however, it has been “lead” — as in lead poisoning.
Anita also worked with the DCFS Youth Advisory
She didn’t set out to be consumed by the issue. When
30
she first started her work on lead
paint abatement, she believed she was
merely taking over some final work
that an organization called Children
& Youth 2000 had been completing.
Shortly after Anita started at the
ChildLaw Center, Professor Diane
Geraghty asked Anita to handle
what was seen as the modest task of
shepherding some already-developed
guidelines through Springfield. Anita
quickly found that the guidelines were
not going to be passed into legislation
unless and until all the parties
responsible for ending lead poisoning
became a part of the process.
Anita didn’t intend to move away from child welfare
issues and full-steam into a leadership role on an
environmental/public health issue. She quickly
discovered that lead poisoning was an issue that
resonated with her lifelong focus on children in poverty.
Like the child welfare issues with which she had been
so deeply involved for over two decades, lead poisoning
involved families needing resources to protect their
children from harm. It called for multi-disciplinary
approaches and a lot of strategic thinking and
negotiations.
Anita proved once again to be a master of getting
potentially opposing forces together for a common
good. She worked hard to forge alliances between
representatives of realtor groups, insurance companies,
tenant organizers, lawyers, environmental protection
advocates, and child and health advocates. As chair of
the Lead Safe Housing Task Force, and co-chair later
of the statewide Lead Safe Housing Advisory Counsel,
she worked on many initiatives to fund and support
efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning. She worked
with the Chicago Department of Public Health to
develop a ten-year blueprint to end childhood lead
poisoning in the City — happily, a blueprint which has
Anita presents a plaque to Alderman Harry Osterman for his
contribution to lead poisoning abaement in Chicago.
been followed. She led efforts to secure lead poisoning
prevention legislation — a first for Illinois — that was
passed in 2006. She drafted the legislation for a window
replacement initiative for Englewood and Peoria, two
of the state’s hardest hit communities. She worked to
get the program funded for $5 million in 2009. Anita
is quick to credit Mike Kreloff, a seasoned lobbyist who
works on behalf of not-for-profit organizations, for his
guidance through the legislative process along with
her close colleague Mary Burns and dozens of other
advocates — community, government, public interest,
and industry — who worked hard on the task forces,
councils and organizations and whose support was
critical to the success of these efforts.
During this period, Anita managed numerous major
grants (her own and those of other staff) for advocacy
work in this area. She also maintained her teaching
and advocacy responsibilities, including many
described throughout this article. The lead poisoning
prevention initiatives are starting to wind down and
Anita is focusing her attention on engaging Loyola
University in a broader interdisciplinary effort to focus
31
on environmental toxins in the home. She is working
with several centers at the University and an advisory
committee to build the Healthy Homes/Healthy
Communities Initiative — an intra-university, publicprivate, community partnership. Anita says this is a
natural fit with the University’s increasing emphasis on
environmental sustainability.
* * *
Reflecting on her long career as a child and family
advocate, Anita sees child welfare and poverty-related
issues as her overriding interest — a passion she
“hopes to get back to more and more” as her work on
lead poisoning abatement lessens. She also loves what
she is doing now and what she has been doing for
so many years. She jokes, however, that while she is
truly enjoying her work, she “wishes there were less of
it.” I shared with her that I know well the feeling she
describes.
Given how busy Anita is, it is remarkable that she
decided she had to make time to serve as one of the
three founding board members of the Family Defense
Center (along with Laurene Heybach and Briggitte
Carlson). She did so because she understood viscerally
the critical need for family advocacy in the child
welfare system and instinctively saw the uniqueness
of the Center in meeting that need. I expressed
similar surprise that Anita has assumed leadership
at the YWCA in Evanston and now serves as its
board president. She was quick to explain that her
interest in the YWCA made perfect sense since it is an
important community institution that combines the
need for strategic vision with practical concrete child
and family-centered programs. Its focus on violence
prevention and racial equity is critical to the families
she cares so deeply about serving.
Anita personifies civic engagement and family and
community connections. I was somewhat surprised
to learn, as I was preparing this biography that Anita,
(whom I consider a close friend, colleague and leader
32
Shira, Beth and Asher Miller, children of Anita Weinberg
and Mark Miller, demonstrating their strong sibling bonds.
in our community), sees herself as an innately shy
person and a homebody. She made this disclosure after
she had been rattling off name after name of colleagues
with whom she had worked on the broad range of
projects in many different settings. It is true, though,
that Anita is the furthest from a self-promoter of
anyone I know. That’s probably one part of her secret
to success. In forging legislative coalitions, getting
decision makers to sign on to initiatives, bringing
people with divergent interests to the table and keeping
them there, Anita is widely acclaimed as a master.
Even while bringing people together so effectively,
she’s already working on the next big initiative and
trying to figure out the strategy for success on the next
challenge.
As Anita tirelessly works to better society around her,
her own family ties are always central to her life. She
and Mark complement each other’s strengths and
interests. Mark is now an independent journalist and
author who is a nationally-recognized expert on trends
in retirement and aging, with a focus on policy issues.
Anita likes to think they have the life span covered
between the two of them. Our own children are our
first topic of conversation whenever Anita and I get
together. Anita and Mark have done an outstanding
job as parents, despite their very busy careers. All three
of their children seem to be pursuing careers aiming
to make the world a better place. Shira is now working
for the Council on Environmental Quality, within the
Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Beth just finished a master’s degree in Human Rights
Law and is working for an international human rights
organization, and Asher, who just graduated from
college, is working with youth in special education.
Anita also stays very close to her sisters Hedy (who
is the Executive Director for the ACLU in Nashville
Tennessee) and Wendy, who is a research scientist
and chief of a molecular oncology lab eventuating
drug tests and research for the Food and Drug
Administration in Bethesda, Maryland. Anita’s
favorite pastime is simply to spend time with her
family, individually, but especially with all of them
together — whether it’s working on their own projects
while sitting together at the dining room table,
bicycling, chatting, playing Scrabble, arguing a point,
traveling, or just spending down time on their screened
porch. Anita’s favorite activity, not surprisingly given
how active her career has been is simply to take a
walk, which she loves to do in order to relax, to think,
to share time with friends or family or just to get
somewhere at a slower pace than her usual busy rush.
Family Defenders come in many stripes, but none
personify the commitment to strengthen families and
support children in their own homes when possible
as much as Anita Weinberg does. No one I know
has done a better job of bringing people of different
backgrounds together for the common good of
children and families. And no one is better loved for
her commitment, grace, tenacity and selfless leadership
than Anita. For that reason, it is a rare honor for me to
be able to recognize Anita’s huge contribution to our
families, our community and our world by naming her
Family Defense Center’s 2013 Family Defender. g
“To dreams, wild and imaginative,
And to the Men and Women (and Children)
Who Dared to Dream Them”
— From the dedication of “Passport to
Utopia,” by Arthur and Lila Weinberg
Dear Anita,
Congratulations!
With love and admiration,
The Weinberg, Cornfield, Miller and
Rothman families
33
36
Congratulations
to Anita Weinberg and to the Family Defense Center!
We are proud to sing the praises
of these all-too-often unsung heroes.
 Carolyn Shapiro and Joshua Karsh 
37
38
“Amid attempts to protect elephants
from ivory poachers and dolphins
from tuna nets, the rights of children
go remarkably unremarked.”
— Anna Quindlen
Congratulations to 2013
Family Defender Anita Weinberg
Anne Evens and Mike Kreloff
Lead Safe Illinois
Anita, you are an
inspiration to us all!
Thank you for changing
the lives of countless
families through your
dedication, talent, and
passion.
With much gratitude,
Sheila Merry
39
Congratulations to Dr. Eugene Pergament
on being recognized for his dedication
to giving counsel, guidance, and reassurance
to parents and families
from your friends
Gene and Faith Schoon
40
To Rhoda
Congratulations to our alumna
Congratulations on a lifetime of work
Rhoda Redleaf
on behalf of children.
With love and pride,
Martha, Mark, Ilene, Pam, Caroline,
and Julia Rosen
Janet, Tim, Alison, and Ruthie Lee
T
he National Association of Counsel
for Children salutes Anita Weinberg
as an example of what a child and family
advocate can and should be. She answers
the call to action that we all hear, yet goes
beyond the individual case to demand that
our laws and our society protect and serve
the most vulnerable among us. Thank you
to Professor Weinberg and to the Family
Defense Center for showing us that we
truly can build a better world for children
and families.
Kendall Marlowe,
National Association of Counsel
for Children
and colleague
Anita Weinberg!
Barbara & Fran Stott
Interim Co-Presidents
Erikson Institute
Cheers for Anita Weinberg
—a leader and fantastic teacher of
students and her peers.
I am forever indebted to her for her
vision and thoughtfulness over the
past 25 years!
Professor Annette Appell
Washington University Law School
41
Congratulations Anita!
Judy, Karen, Jean,
Anita, Barb, Jerri,
Ellen, Marcia, Paula,
and Margie
It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge
Anita’s hard work and dedication towards
addressing lead poisoning among Chicago’s
children. Her efforts, among them serving as
Chair of the Lead Safe Housing Task Force
and advocating with policy makers, have made
homes lead-safe, reduced the numbers of kids
with lead poisoning and enabled kids to live
healthier and more prosperous lives. Though
work remains, I look forward to continue to
work alongside Anita as we continue to address
this problem.
Cort Lohff, MD, MPH
Medical Director for Environmental Health
Chicago Department of Public Health
Congratulations, Anita!
Your tireless efforts to ensure that
Illinois children are protected from lead
poisoning has positioned Illinois as a
national leader. From literally rescuing
the Lead Safe Housing Task Force to
establishing the Illinois Lead Safe Housing
Advisory Council and countless legislative
and policy efforts in between and beyond,
you are both an inspiration
and a treasured colleague.
Amy Zimmerman
Director, Chicago Medical Legal Partnership
for Children , Health & Disability Advocates
42
Many care, few deliver.
Those who deliver do not always care.
The rare ones blend heart and head,
as does Anita. Tireless and effective,
Anita has sought both incremental steps
and quantum leaps recognizing that
problems, solutions, and children are
not easily or correctly pidgeonholed,
and opposing groups have a right to be
heard and a right to be incorporated.
Dear Colleen,
As always, I am remarkably proud of you
and what you have accomplished
through your pro bono work.
All of the people you have served
are quite lucky to have had you by their side,
but none of them are as lucky as me.
Your Husband
Charles Burhan
43
Edelman Combs and Latturner is
pleased to support the groundbreaking
legal advocacy by the Family Defense
Center. Congratulations to Diane,
Melissa, Angela, the other staff of the
Center and all the honorees.
Daniel Edelman
Cathleen Combs
James Latturner
Congratulations to
Anita Weinberg,
Eugene Pergament, and
Rhoda Redleaf
And to FDC as it goes National!
Lansner & Kubitschek
New York, New York
44
Congratulations, Anita!
Thanks for your pathbreaking
advocacy for children and
families and your lasting
contributions to legal
education.
Dorothy Roberts
❦
I have been honored to know Anita
for over thirty years: beginning when
we were law students together and
subsequently as co-workers in four
different work places, including our
current positions at Loyola. Anita has
been a consistent and impassioned
voice for Illinois’s most vulnerable
families. It is a privilege to have a friend
and colleague with such integrity and
purpose. Congratulations, Anita.
Mary Bird
Congratulations to the
Family Defense Center
on another successful year!
Congratulations to Diane Redleaf
and team on all the wonderful
progress you continue to make
at the Family Defense Center. It
is so good to be part of this fine
organization in support of justice
for children and their families!
The McDonald Family
CONGRATULATIONS
COLLEEN!
CONGRATULATIONS TO A
BRILLIANT DAUGHTER,
NIECE  SISTER
Beth and Klaus Reissenweber
g
•
Congratulations, Anita, for
this well-deserved honor.
You embody the interplay of
compassion and creativity that
is so necessary to inspire hope
and achieve justice.
I am proud to be your friend.
Jane Aiken
g
THE MURPHY CLAN
45
— Herbert Hoover
Anita,
You have changed so many
children's lives, allowing them to
fulfill their dreams.
Thank you for this, and for your
friendship.
Elisa Spungen Bildner
and Rob Bildner
2
Anita Weinberg’s work on family
reunification has been critically
important here and nationally.
Moreover, her teaching students to
carry the work forward protecting
our most vulnerable communities
makes Anita a great asset to us all.
y
"Children are our most valuable resource."
Congratulations to FDC and Anita! This
is a tremendously well-deserved honor. You
have devoted your career to improving the
lives of vulnerable children and families
as well as to educating future advocates
who will carry on these important efforts.
Through the many dimensions of your
work—advocating on behalf of individuals
and for policy changes, serving as a clinical
teacher, contributing groundbreaking
legislation as well as scholarship—you have
improved the lives of countless individuals,
families, and communities. I am privileged
and deeply grateful to have you as a mentor,
colleague, and friend. I wish you all the best
now and into the future!!
Susan Brooks, Drexel Law School
Congratulations, Anita,
on being named this year’s
Family Defender
We all have benefited from your
tremendous commitment to families.
Michael Dsida
Laurene M. Heybach
Director
The Law Project of the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless
46
Deputy Chief Counsel
Committee for Public Counsel Services
Boston, Massachusetts
Anita, you have led so many noble
efforts to bring justice to children
and families. Congratulations on
this wonderful award.
Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers
Congratulations Anita!
From your friends at the
Clarence Darrow Commemorative Committee
Tracy Baim, Nina Barrett, and Nina Helstein
Congratulations
Anita
You are a true marathoner for
justice for children! You have given
so much of yourself and shared
invaluable guidance and support
with many who continue to run with
you. My very special thanks.
MaryLee Allen, Director
Child Welfare and Mental Health
Children’s Defense Fund
Anita Weinberg’s leadership on childhood lead
poisoning prevention and healthy homes has
provided inspiration to communities across the
country. It has been innovative, effective and
tireless and has protected literally millions of
children over the past decade.
David E. Jacobs, Ph. D.
CIH, National Center for Healthy Housing
Anita
To our friends
Anita and Eugene
With respect and admiration
Judy and David Schiffman
We are so appreciative of all you do for
children and families.
Our heartiest congratulations on this
tremendous honor!
Barb and Seth
Anita Weinberg’s leadership
on childhood lead poisoning prevention and
healthy homes has provided inspiration to
communities across the country. It has been
innovative, effective and tireless and has
protected literally millions of children
over the past decade.
David E. Jacobs, Research Director
National Center for Healthy Housing
Sincerely, Sara Block
To the Honorees
For Anita
Thanks for all that you do for
our community.
With love and admiration
Kimball and Karen Anderson
48
Anita,
I learned from you as your student in law school
and I was inspired by your passion, intelligence,
dignity and grace. I continue to learn from you
and seek inspiration from your example as our
professional paths intersect in ways for which I
am extremely grateful. A deeply well-deserved
honor you are receiving.
Gerry Cornez
Dear Diane,
Continue your wonderful work!
Vera Pless
We salute Rhoda Redleaf
and the Family Defense Center
Congratulations to Anita Weinberg
by defending families a reality, for the
and thank you, Anita, for making a difference
in the lives of so many children and families.
future depends on our children.
Helen Thornton
for making its mission of protecting children
Carolyn and Robert Latz
Congratulations and best wishes
to Anita Weinberg
and the Family Defense Center
Judith Crown and Richard Rothschild
Congratulations to the honorees
and best wishes to the
Family Defense Center.
I am proud to be a part of an organization
that does so much to
help keep families together.
Helene Snyder
49
Congratulations Anita
on receiving the 2013 Family Defender Award!
Your commitment to helping some of the most
vulnerable members of our society has been an
inspiration to me and so many others. Without your
work on lead poisoning prevention, we would never
have had some of the best legislation in the country,
both in Illinois and in Chicago.
Thank you for giving so much to the movement.
Patrick MacRoy
We are proud to support the Family Defense
Center in its quest to ensure that a child has a
loving and caring environment. We experienced
first-hand the Family Defense Center’s integrity,
commitment and legal support in helping a
family member to access justice after a false
allegation; help that will, hopefully, carve a path
to reintegration with his daughter.
Best wishes to the
Family Defense Center!
Forest Printing
Leticia and Jim
Congratulations
to the Family Defense Center
and Prof. Anita Weinberg
Julie A. Bauer
50
Mauk & O’Connor, LLP
Salutes
Anita Weinberg
Congratulations!
Working alongside Anita was like taking a
Master Class in Child Advocacy. She showed me
how to work toward a better system
in the classroom,
in the courtroom, and in the legislature.
Congratulations, Anita
and Well Done, Family Defense Center
Paul Holland
Additional Congratulations for Our Honorees
Ellen M. Babbitt
Mark and Cynde Hansen
Leslie Nickels and Lon Berkeley
Nancy Barwig
Sylvester and Evelyn Harris
Angela Peters
The Boyer Fund
Nina Hillery
Carol and Alan Rosenthal
Mary Burns
Cathy Joyce
Erika Raskopf
Gordon S. Cohen
Michael and Sherry Kaufman
Carol and Alan Rosenthal
Joan Colen
Catherine Korus
Stuart and Leslie Shulruff
Karl and Kathy Dennis
Jenny Kubitschek
David Snyder
Michael and E.G. Enbar
Ann and Jerome Lafferty
Martin Stone
Carol and Morrie Fred
Robert Lehrer
Connie and Howard Sulkin
Paul Freehling
Brian Libgober and Jackie
Vayntrub
Ben Weinberg
Gaylord and William Gieseke
Sallie and Alan Gratch
Tom Grippando
Jonathan Libgober
Diana and Peter White
Carol Mullins
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The Family Defense Center Offers Hearfelt Appreciation to
the Following Organizations for Major Annual Support
Major Support for the Family Defense
Center in 2013 has been Received
from the Following Foundations
Vera Pless (matching up to $2500)
Chicago Foundation for Women
Mary Kelly Broderick (matching up to $1000)
Efroymson Family Foundation
Ellen Domph (matching up to $1000)
Field Foundation
Anonymous (matching up to $500)
Help For Children (formerly Hedge Funds Care)
2013 Family Defender Gala Sponsors
Illinois Bar Foundation
Lawyers Trust Fund
Polk Bros. Foundation
Dr. William and Donna Batrrows)
(matching up to $1500)
Hero ($10,000)
Jenner & Block (including firm and
individual attorney donations)
Redleaf Family Foundation
Dr. Eugene Pergament
Skadden Foundation/Joseph Flom Incubator
Grant Program (for Fellowship of Sara Block)
Defender ($5,000 - $9,999)
Kirkland and Ellis (including
individual designated donations)
Funded Need Matching Contributors
Andrew Redleaf and Other Family
Members (matching up to $5000)
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Winston and Strawn (including
individual attorney donations)
Advocate ($3,000 - $4,999)
Baker & McKenzie
Vera Pless
Kathleen Barry and Curtis Warner
Diane Redleaf and Anatoly Libgober
McDermott Will & Emery
Senior Counselor ($2,500 - $3,000)
Mr. and Mrs. Peter B. Pond
Ropes & Gray LLP
Judy and David Schiffman
Sidley Austin LLP
Seyfarth Shaw LLP
Counselor ($1,500 - $2,499)
Helene Snyder
Michael Brody and Libby Ester
Tim and Jan Timmel
Ann Courter and Norman Hirsch
Deborah Pergament
(Commitments reported in this program book
were received by September 14, 2013)
Eugene Schoon
Auction Donors
Sustainer ($1,000 - $1,499)
Sheldon Baskin and Judith Wise
We gratefully acknowledge the following
donors to our auctions and raffles.
Drinker Biddle & Reath
4paws
Hughes Socol Piers Resnick & Dym Ltd.
Adler Planetarium
John McCartney
Tom and Louise Allen
Margaret McDonald
Anonymous Mystery Dinner Donor
Andrew and Lynne Redleaf
Mike and Karen Armstrong
Redleaf Family Foundation
Arts N Spirits
Beth Reissenweber
Ayla's Originals
Mark Simon
Bodyscapes
Peggy Slater
Mary Kelly Broderick
Friends ($500 - $999)
Brookfield Zoo
Kimball and Karen Anderson
Elizabeth Chiara Burns
Annette Appell
Mary Burns
Julie Bauer
Elizabeth Butler and Dean Resnekov
Judy Crown and Richard Rothschild
Laura Caldwell
Leticia Delgado-Herrera and Jim Pink
Chicago Architecture Foundation
Dan Edelman, Cathy Combs and James Latturner
Chicago Bears
Ian Elfenbaum and Susan Adler
Chicago Chamber Musicians
Esquire Solutions
Chicago Cubs
Carolyn Kubitschek and David Lansner
Chicago Fire
Miller, Shakman & Beem
Chicago Opera Theater
Michael O’Connor and Sara Mauk
Chicago Shakespeare Theater
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Chicago Sinfonietta
Ruth Mejias
Chicago Tourism
Sheila Merry
Chicago White Sox
Jonni Miklos
Chicago Wolves
Museum of Science and Industry
Classic Cinemas
Music of the Baroque
Comedy Sportz Theatre
Chris Naper
Corboy and Demetrio
Oceanique
Court Theatre
Michelle Palluch/East Bank Storage
Ann Courter and Norman Hirsch
Panera Bread
Destination Fitness
Deb Pergament
Elephant & Castle
Deb and Eugene Pergament
Ian Elfenbaum
PRP Wines
Farnsworth House
Diane Redleaf
Flavour cooking school
Rhoda Redleaf
Robyn Gabel
Redleaf Press
Ryan Garton
Revolution Brewery
Beth Gaskill
Roger Beck Portraits
Mary Case Gaskill
Alejandro Romero
Gene Siskel Film Center
Rosebud Resturant
Diana Hansen
Shedd Aquarium
Jill Hazelbauer Von Der Ohe
Mark Simon
Angela Inzano
Helene Snyder
Patricia Jones Blessman
Tishaunda and Michael McPherson
Kimbark Beverage Shoppe
The Stained Glass
Charles and Alice Kurland
The State House Inn
L20
Tru
David Lansner & Carolyn Kubitschek
Wine Style
Laugh Factory
Wines for Humanity
Lettuce Entertain You
Susan Wishnick and Allen Steinberg
Anatoly Libgober
Ayo Maat
Lou Malnati's
Maya Del Sol
Brian Meister
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Family Defense Center Board of Directors
Helene Snyder, President
Michael A. O’Connor, Treasurer
Michael W. Weaver, Secretary
*Patricia Jones Blessman
Dr. Paul and Rhoda Redleaf
Michael T. Brody
Adele Saaf
Salvador Cicero
Deborah Spector
Louis Fogel
Prof. Michael Wald
Colleen Garlington
Elizabeth Warner
Steven V. Hunter
Prof. Anita Weinberg
*Jonni Miklos
*Deborah Pergament
Beth Reissenweber
*Cynthia Stewart
Prof. Karen Teigiser
Benefit Hosts, Planning
Committee, and Volunteers
Mary Lee Allen
Prof. Douglas Baird
Jonathan Baum
Champion Board
Jeanne Beckman
*Prof. Annette Appell
Prof. Julie Biehl
*Brigitte Schmidt Bell
Prof. Mary Bird
*Mary Kelly Broderick
Sara Block
*Prof. Susan Brooks
Prof. Bruce Boyer
Joan Colen
Prof. Mary Burns
Cathy Combs
Melissa Caballero
*Ann Courter
Lourdes Cebellos
Kent Dean
Carly Chocran
*Norman Hirsch
Mary Grace Chua
*David J. Lansner
Judith Crown
Lawrence Lansner
Ellen Domph
Elizabeth Larsen
Anne Evens
James Latturner
Erna Fishhaut
Joy Leibman
Michael French
*Elizabeth Lewis
Emily Ho
*Meg McDonald
Diana Kaplen
*Christine M. Naper
Erin Kelly
Edward Otto
Hon. Michael Kreloff
Dr. Eugene Pergament
Carly McGarr
Prof. Vera Pless
Brenna McLean
Andrew and Lynne Redleaf
Sheila Merry
*Benefit Host/Planning Committee Member
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Leslie Nickels
Susan Wishnick
Amy Nieves
Stephanie Xiao
Michelle Palluch
Amy Zimmerman
Rachel Pergament
Prof. Stacey Platt
Ellen Rabin
Prof. Arthur Safer
Eugene Schoon
Family Defense Center Staff
Diane L. Redleaf, Executive Director
Melissa L. Staas, Staff Attorney
Angela C. Inzano, Staff Attorney
Ruth Bell Mejias, Intake Coordinator
Mark Simon
Diana Hansen, Operations Manager
Peggy Slater
Michael Pope, Development Assistant
Allen Steinberg
Helen Thornton
John M. Wilkes (PILI Fellow,
courtesy of Kirkland and Ellis)
Sandi Toll
Skye Allen, Law Clerk
Colin Waller
Shawn Taylor, Treetop Consulting
Media Relations Consultant
Hedy Weinberg
Lindsay Weinberg
Phil Milsk, Government
Relations Consultant
About The Family Defense Center
Winner of the first “Excellent Emerging Organization” award
from the Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management.
The mission of the Family Defense Center is to advocate for justice for families in
the child welfare system. Founded in 2005, it is a groundbreaking legal representation
and advocacy organization. Its primary focus is preventing irreparable harm to families
through the wrongful separation of children from their parents or the erroneous labeling
of innocent family members as responsible for abuse or neglect.
Family Defense Center
70 E Lake Street
Suite 1100
Chicago, IL 60601
312-251-9800 (phone)
312-251-9801 (fax)
www.familydefensecenter.org
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