Van Dam Foundation Being Formed

In a move taken by parents of some other kidnap-murder victims, the mother of seven-year-old Danielle van Dam is working with friends to create a foundation devoted to child safety. Brenda van Dam of San Diego hopes to have the foundation running by September 22nd, which would have been Danielle´s eighth birthday. Danielle´s parents are prohibited by a gag order from speaking to the media about any issue related to their daughter, who was abducted and killed in February. Their neighbor 50-year-old David Westerfield was convicted last week. The jury begins the penalty phase of his trial on Wednesday to determine if he will receive the death penalty or life in prison without parole.

It´s reported Brenda van Dam and five friends met over the weekend to continue working out the details of what is to become the Danielle Legacy Foundation. Their model is Mothers Against Drunk Driving. A friend who is involved said they plan to use the network of volunteers who helped in the search for Danielle to promote child safety issues and advocate causes such as a nationwide Amber Alert system to help find missing children.