Karen Suell Raiford died February 23 at her home in Pacific Palisades, a victim of lung cancer. She devoted over 40 years to social work and management in Los Angeles County, working successively in the county Department of Social Services, and then with the Superior Court. She was born Karen Suell Kiersgaard in Glostrup, Denmark on November 30, 1932. The family moved to Virum (north of Copenhagen) before settling in Lyngby in 1953. Karen grew up during the Great Depression, and in Nazi-occupied Denmark during the Second World War. She was educated as a nurse in Roskilde following the war. Karen first came to the United States from Denmark in 1954 and resided in East Lansing, Michigan for four years, working in a hospital there as a nurse’s aide. In 1958 she moved to California. After a brief time nursing in Pasadena she enrolled at UCLA, graduating in 1962 with a B.A. in sociology; she received her Master’s of Social Welfare there in 1968. She started work with the Los Angeles County Department of Social Services (DPSS) in 1961, where she worked for the next 11 years, rising to the position of deputy district director. In 1972 Karen started with the Superior Court of Los Angeles as the director of child custody evaluations department. She headed that department until her retirement in September 1992. During her time with the court, Karen made frequent presentations at statewide as well as national conferences. She was part of the statewide committee that drafted the California Rules of Court setting standards for child custody evaluators. She also drafted the first standards for child custody evaluators for the Association of Family and Conciliation Court (AFCC), which were published in 1986. Karen served on the national and California board of directors for AFCC. She received the Distinguished Service Award in 1992 from AFCC for her contribution to the Child Custody Standard Committee and the National Board of Directors. Following her retirement, she continued to work for the department, and donated many volunteer hours recruiting and training new staff. She also provided training for the newly formed Riverside County Superior Court Child Custody Evaluations office. Karen was also very involved with her church, the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica. There she served on the personnel and ministerial committees, and as a mentor for four years in the church’s Discovery program. A memorial service will be held for Karen at the church, located at 1260 Eighteenth Street in Santa Monica, on March 20 at 2:30 p.m. In addition to her husband of 38 years, John D. Raiford, Karen is survived by her sister, Mary (L’sser) H’iler; a brother, Hanse Kiersgaard; two nieces; three nephews; three grand-nieces; two grand-nephews and one great-grand-nephew in Denmark. A daughter, Joan Mhoon (Ginga) Raiford, died in 1983. In lieu of flowers, donations in Karen’s memory can be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center, P.O. Box 548, Montgomery, Alabama 36177; the Salvation Army; or Survivors After Suicide at the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, 4760 S. Sepulveda, Culver City, CA 90230.
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