Deborra-lee Furness
About
Deborra-lee Furness is an internationally acclaimed actor as well as a passionate supporter of children and defender of their human rights across the globe. She founded National Adoption Awareness Week in Australia when she recognised the great need to address what needs to be done in serving abandoned and vulnerable children around the world.
She is Patron of the Lighthouse Foundation for displaced children in Melbourne Australia, Patron of the Fight Cancer foundation Australia and Patron of International Adoption Families for Queensland.
As a World Vision ambassador, Deborra-lee has travelled through Asia and Africa to help raise awareness of the issues surrounding poverty and the enormity of the Global Orphan Crisis – most recently travelling as part of a delegation with President Bill Clinton throughout Africa to witness the initiatives crated by the Clinton Global Initiative.
Deborra-lee is Executive Director for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation Australia and was honoured at the Worldwide Orphans Gala in New York City for her work in advocacy for vulnerable children. She received the first 2013 National Angel in Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) in Washington DC in October. The CCAI’s Angels in Adoption Program honors individuals, couples and organisations that have made extraordinary contributions on behalf of children in need of families.
It is her passion that children all over the world be given every chance to live a fulfilled and joyous life and achieve their full potential.