First Star was founded in 1999 as a national 501(c)(3) public charity dedicated to improving life for child victims of abuse and neglect. First Star’s co-founder and president, Peter Samuelson, is a motion picture executive who also founded the Starlight Children's Foundation in 1982 and the Starbright Foundation in 1990.
Guiding Principles:
- When society fails to prevent child maltreatment, our nation must provide abused and neglected children with quality and compassionate care.
- Abused and neglected children have the right to safe, permanent and nurturing homes, representation by qualified legal counsel, and protection by open and accountable courts.
- The systems intended to protect, treat and ensure permanency for abused and neglected children should be provided with adequate resources.
- Child welfare professionals who protect, treat and represent abused and neglected children should be well-trained and fairly compensated.
- Child abuse and neglect is not a partisan issue.
