Year Honored: 2023
Biography
Patricia Dailey Lewis is the Chief Executive Officer of the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children. Patty joined the Foundation in January 2016, as the first executive director, upon retiring from the Department of Justice after a 30-year career.
At the Beau Biden Foundation for the Protection of Children, Patty has built upon her decades of expertise to lead a nationally renowned organization that works to prevent child abuse by educating adults and children, developing the next generation of child welfare professionals, and strengthening child protection laws throughout this country. In this role, Patty has trained thousands of professionals, parents, and families on topics ranging from identifying the signs of abuse and neglect to responding to disclosures of abuse to combating the commercial sexual exploitation of children (human trafficking) to protecting children online. Patty is frequently called upon by national news organizations to give interviews as an expert on child abuse prevention and protection. Too often organizations designed for the benefit of young people have, instead, caused lifelong damage by allowing predators to work for these institutions. Recognizing that abuse can happen in any setting for children, Patty has created a nationally renowned program, called the Shield of Protection, that seeks to ensure that educational institutions and youth serving organizations have achieved the best practices in child protection policies and procedures. These are just a few of the successful initiatives Patty has championed.
A practicing attorney, Patty was previously Deputy Attorney General with the Delaware Department of Justice and, until her retirement, served as the Director of the Family Division. Patty worked in the field of family and child advocacy, domestic violence, the protection of vulnerable adults and the elderly, and consumer protection. She has practiced in all Delaware courts, including the Supreme Court of Delaware and the United States District Court for the District of Delaware. She also is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States.
It's impossible to know how many children Patty has saved from becoming victims of physical and sexual abuse. What is certain is that due to Patty's expertise and dedication, young lives throughout the world are being spared from horrific abuse, unimaginable violence and even death.
For nearly forty years, Patty has been at the forefront of taking on some of the nation's worst examples of child abuse. She has zealously advocated for the rights of victims and has never wavered confronting the root causes of violence. This experience has given Patty a deep expertise in advocating for abuse prevention and child protection. The programs she has developed on best practices in the prevention of child abuse and neglect are deployed routinely in communities throughout the United States and the world. From small groups like local nonprofits to major global organizations such as Special Olympics International, Patty has helped ensure schools and youth-serving organizations have the best policies, procedures, and programming in place to help protect children from all forms of child abuse and neglect.
Trusted with the most complex cases at the Department of Justice, Patty's career is also noteworthy because of the hundreds of attorneys she has inspired to serve the public. It's not uncommon to run into someone in the legal profession who will tell you how Patty changed their career path. A student seeking to fulfill a requirement at Delaware Law School will sign up to take Patty's Family Law course. Thinking this class will not have much relevance to them once they leave law school for a career in corporate law, they are often changed. Instead, they find themselves switching gears to focus on child welfare law or plan to serve as a guardian ad litem in foster care cases. The same can be said for attorneys she mentored at the Delaware Department of Justice who saw firsthand Patty's advocacy in the courtroom on numerous matters, including the criminal prosecution of domestic violence, consumer protection litigation, and civil cases involving child abuse and neglect.
Patty's legacy at the Department of Justice extends beyond the people she inspired. Knowing that it was important to improve the response to child abuse throughout the state, Patty even required that prosecutors be trained on best practices for responding to and reporting child abuse. Delaware also has some of the nation's strongest laws protecting children thanks to Patty's efforts to collaborate with legislators on important initiatives ranging from the mandatory reporting of child abuse to red flag laws to reduce gun violence. To this day, victims and their families who have been assisted by Patty routinely contact her for support or guidance as do the attorneys and child protection professionals she has inspired.
Patty has served as a Law Professor at Delaware Law School for thirty-five years and sits on the Board of Directors of the Children's Advocacy Center of Delaware and the Victims Compensation Commission. She serves as a commissioner of the Child Protection Accountability Commission and the Child and Maternal Health Commission. She speaks at numerous national and international conferences on child abuse, abuse of the vulnerable, child death, domestic violence, and organizational practices to enhance child safety and well-being.
Patty is married to Lawrence W. Lewis, Esquire. They have a daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen Dailey and Ryan Patino.
- Collections: 2023