Doug Forbes and Elena Matyas, co-founders of Meow Meow Foundation and parents of Roxie Forbes — who was neglected to death at a greater Los Angeles camp named Summerkids — will travel to Delaware for a speaking engagement at a Beau Biden Foundation event on September 13.

The Beau Biden Foundation believes that child abuse can be prevented through effectively educating adults and children, developing the next generation of child welfare professionals and strengthening child protection laws around the country.

Forbes and Matyas connected with BBF Executive Director Patty Dailey Lewis over the topic of summer camp child abuse. “As a Deputy Attorney General, I sat on the Child Death Commission and thus investigated these deaths,” she said. “You are correct, the abuse and neglect that goes on at camps is terrifying.”

A practicing attorney for more than 30 years, Mrs. Lewis was previously Deputy Attorney General with the Delaware Department of Justice under the now deceased former Attorney General Beau Biden, son of our current President. Beau created The Family Division in 2007 to better respond to the needs of children and families in the justice system.

MMF and BBF discussed ways by which the two organizations might work together toward passing federal camp safety legislation. No such legislation currently exists, despite the fact that an estimated 25 million children attend nearly 20,000 camps in the $26 billion dollar industry., according to the American Camp Association.

MMF is currently exploring a summer camp bill for the state of California which would require background checks, additional mandated reporters and qualified on-site health service providers.