The Foundation’s Patron is the Hon Dame Lowell Patria Goddard DNZM QC. Dame Lowell is a Queen's Counsel and former Judge of the High Court of New Zealand.Dame Lowell has a long-standing commitment to social justice and welfare issues, particularly those concerning children and young persons.

Dame Lowell practised first at the defence Bar in Auckland before relocating to Wellington where she became the Crown’s senior prosecutor. In 1992 she was appointed Deputy-Solicitor General for New Zealand and in 1995 was appointed as a Judge of the High Court Bench, the first person of Maori descent to be so appointed.

Between 2007 and 2012 Dame Lowell chaired the Independent Police Conduct Authority. Amongst the many reviews and investigations she carried out during her tenure was an inquiry into Police Practice and Policies and Procedures Relating to the Investigation of Child Abuse in New Zealand. Through her work at the Authority, Dame Lowell was elected as an Expert Member of the United Nations Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture. She served in that role from 2010 until 2016, participating in a number of field missions to inspect conditions of detention in closed environments and to provide educational support to various State parties.

In 2014 Dame Lowell was honoured as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. In early 2015 she stepped down as a New Zealand Judge to answer the urgent request of the British Government to chair the UK’s Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales, a role she undertook until August 2016.

Dame Lowell is a recipient of the 1990 Commemoration medal and the 1993 New Zealand Women’s Suffrage Medal. She is a Distinguished Alumnus of Auckland University and an Honorary Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn. She has been a Vice Patron of the Mistletoe Trust since its inception and is an avid supporter of its work, its ideals and its vision for the children and young people of New Zealand.