"Advocate Of The Year" Honor For Anne Foley Of The District Attorney's Office

WOBURN - Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan is pleased to announce that Anne Foley, Chief of the Victim Witness Advocate Unit, has been presented with the “Gerard D. Downing Advocate of the Year Award” by the Massachusetts District Attorneys' Association.

The Downing award is a lifetime achievement award which recognizes the special combination of talents embodied in a truly outstanding advocate: a deep compassion for and empathetic understanding of the needs of crime victims and their families; outstanding skill in anticipating and providing advice, counseling and services; an ability to instill in victims a sense of dignity and confidence; and the ability to reach and touch victims that makes them feel, regardless of the prosecution outcome, that their voice has been heard.

"We are so pleased that Anne is being recognized for her dedication to helping the victims of crime," said District Attorney Ryan. "Anne is that rare individual who possesses a gentleness of spirit, a compassion that knows no bounds, and a strength of character that gives other people courage when they are most vulnerable. Victims are so much more empowered because Anne is at their side taking the walk with them as a case proceeds through the judicial system."

Anne Foley began her career as a Victim Witness Advocate with the Middlesex County District Attorney's Office in September 1987. Anne has been assigned to many of the district courts throughout the county including Ayer, Malden, Concord, and Newton. From August 1990-August 1994, she was assigned to the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit where she worked exclusively with child victims and their families. Since that time she has assumed a supervisory role in addition to a superior court caseload including homicide, domestic violence, and sexual assault cases. In 2012, Anne was named Chief of the Victim Witness Services Bureau where she currently serves.

The Massachusetts District Attorneys' Association presented the award recently at the 21st Annual Massachusetts Prosecutors Conference held at The Seaport Hotel in Boston.

This photograph shows District Attorney Ryan with Anne Foley at the awards presentation on Thursday, March 26.