Saint Paul – Governor Tim Pawlenty today announced the appointment of Barbara J. Fabre, Leslie M. Metzen, Robert Quinn Sawyer, and Wright S. Walling to the new State Guardian Ad Litem Board.

Fabre, of Ogema, is the director of the White Earth child care program in Waubun. Her work includes recruiting, licensing, training, and monitoring child care providers, supervising staff, and overseeing the program’s annual budget. An enrolled member of the Ojibwe Nation, she has held a number of positions with the White Earth Reservation over the past 23 years, including youth services, the Women, Infants and Children program, and Indian Child Welfare. Fabre founded and co-chairs the Communities Collaborative Conference, Minnesota’s largest brain development conference. Her numerous memberships in community organizations include serving as vice chair of the Waubun-Ogema-White Earth School Board, chair of the National Indian Child Care Association, and a member of the White Earth Children’s Fund, local Indian Education Committee, and the University of Minnesota Center for Early Education and Development Advisory Board. Fabre is appointed to an initial term that expires on January 2, 2012.

Metzen, of Sunfish Lake, is the senior director of violence prevention with 360 Communities, a private, non-profit organization that works to end violence against women. Previously, she was a First Judicial District Trial Court Judge in Dakota County for 23 years, and served as Chief Judge of the District and chair of the Conference of Chief Judges. She was also a teacher at Derham Hall High School prior to going to law school. Metzen earned her juris doctorate degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, and her bachelor of science degree with distinction from the University of Minnesota. She was a member of the Supreme Court’s Juvenile Justice Task Force, where she chaired the Committee to Revise Minnesota Procedural Rules for Juvenile Delinquency; the Parental Cooperation Task Force; South St. Paul Restorative Justice Council; and was a founding member of the Dakota County Domestic Violence Coordinating Council. Metzen is appointed to an initial term that expires on January 6, 2014.

Sawyer, of Rochester, is a senior child welfare fellow with the American Humane Association, where he provides consultation, presentations, and training on child welfare services on behalf of its Child Welfare Services division. Sawyer retired in 2009 from Olmsted County Community Services where he was the director of child and family services for 12 years and director of social services for four years before that. Prior to that, he was a family preservation services supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Human Services, a section manager with Dakota County Social Services, and a social service supervisor with Stearns County Social Services. A licensed independent clinical social worker in Minnesota, Sawyer earned his master of social work degree from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, bachelor of arts degree from Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, and his child care worker certificate from the Menninger Foundation in Topeka. Sawyer is appointed to an initial term that expires on January 3, 2011.

Walling, of St. Louis Park, is an attorney, partner and past president of the Walling, Berg and Debele law firm in Minneapolis. His practice consists of family law including adoption, child custody, and juvenile law. Walling is also a family and civil mediator, and a certified adoption mediator by the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. In addition to his law practice, he was the director of the Hennepin County Guardian ad Litem Panel from 1980 to 1994, where he developed and managed attorney representation of volunteer guardian ad litems in juvenile court. Walling earned his juris doctorate degree from the University of Minnesota, and his bachelor of arts degree from American University in Washington, D.C. He is a charter member and past president of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, and has served on numerous professional committees, including the Supreme Court’s Juvenile Protection Rules Committee and Minnesota Children’s Law Center Advisory Board. Walling is appointed to an initial term that expires on January 7, 2013.

The State Guardian Ad Litem Board was created by the 2010 Legislature (Laws of Minnesota 2010, Chapter 309, Section 5) to create and administer a statewide independent Guardian ad Litem program to advocate for the best interests of children, minor parents, and incompetent adults in juvenile and family court cases; approve and recommend a budget for the board and the Guardian ad Litem program to the Legislature; establish procedures for distribution of funding to the Guardian ad Litem program; and establish Guardian ad Litem standards, administrative policies, procedures, and rules.

The State Guardian Ad Litem Board consists of seven members, including four members appointed by the Governor, and three members appointed by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is appointing Richard Jessen, Cyrenthia Shaw, and Mark Toogood. Additional information on the Supreme Court’s appointments can be found on their website, www.mncourts.gov.