Meet The Experts

Mary Jo Barrett is the Executive Director and co-founder of The Center for Contextual Change, Ltd. She holds a Masters in Social Work from the University of Illinois Jane Addams School of Social Work and is currently on the faculties of University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, The Chicago Center For Family Health, and the Family Institute of Northwestern University. Previously, Mary Jo was the Director of Midwest Family Resource and has been working in the field of family violence since 1974.

Mary Jo has coauthored two books with Dr. Terry Trepper: Incest: A Multiple Systems Perspective and The Systemic Treatment of Incest: A Therapeutic Handbook. She co-created the Collaborative Stage Model (CSM), a highly successful contextual model of therapy used to transform the lives of those impacted by abuse and/or traumatic events.

Her trainings and published works focus on the teaching of the Collaborative Stage Model, systemic and feminist treatment of women, adult survivors of sexual abuse and trauma, eating disorders, couple therapy, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Compassion Fatigue.

Mary Jo also founded the Family Dialogue Project, which strives to redefine relationships with families impacted by allegations of abuse and trauma.

Jerimiah Boyd-Johnson is a young community leader on Chicago’s South Side. He currently attends Eastern Illinois University on a communications scholarship and holds a 3.8 GPA. He has a double major in Criminal Justice and Political Science with a minor in Pre-Law. His extra-curricular activities include: Vice-President of The Black Student Union, Co-Captain of the Speech Team, and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

A Chicago native and graduate of St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School, Buchanan received his BA from Bradley University majoring in Criminal Justice and African American Studies. He received his JD from Vermont Law School. He worked in Nash Disability Law, The Cochran Firm- Los Angeles, the State Bar of California, and Muherin Rehfeldt & Varchetto PC on a wide range of cases including civil litigation cases involving personal injury, products liability, wrongful death, medical malpractice, disability, and ethical/professional responsibility matters. He served as an ASA for the Cook County States Attorney’s Office prosecuting criminal cases in the First Municipal, Suburban, Child Protection and Juvenile Delinquency bureaus, as a Special Prosecutor within the Community Justice Center division, and with Task Force cases within the Financial Crimes Unit.

He founded Buchanan Management & Consulting LLC, a full-service entertainment management company providing legal and business consulting services to entertainers and industry related companies.

Buchanan has worked on the front lines of many political campaigns for County Board presidents, Alderman, State Representatives, Howard Dean’s 2004 Presidential Campaign, Barack Obama’s 2004 US Senate Campaign, and also his historical 2008 Presidential Campaign. He has served on the Board of Directors for numerous nonprofit organizations including The Talent Managers Association, Project Syncere, The Yellow Tractor Project, and The Erica Hubbard Foundation. He is the Co-Coach of the Mock Trial Team for St. Ignatius College Preparatory High School, is a member of numerous bar associations, and is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.

Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Registered Play Therapist Certified Theraplay® Practitioner and Trainer, Andrea Bushala, has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Miami University with an emphasis in Child Development. She obtained her Master of Social Work degree from Loyola University Chicago with a dual specialization in School Social Work and Children and Families. Andrea previously worked at a community mental health clinic focusing on children and young adults experiencing anxiety and depression. Additionally, she has experience in the public school system providing individual and group therapy for children ages 2-6.

In her clinical work, Andrea uses a strength-based perspective, incorporating the learnings from trauma, attachment theory and brain development to help families optimize relationships and their sense of connection. Andrea completed a two-year postgraduate fellowship in Infant Parent Mental Health at the University of Massachusetts/Boston in November 2019. Andrea is a Theraplay® Trainer and Supervisor as well as a Registered Play Therapist. She has held a role on the Illinois Association for Play Therapy Executive Board since 2017.

Ms. Chaney is a 20-year veteran across all platforms: print, digital and broadcast, and an advocate for the Black Press and diversity in newsrooms.

Prior to joining YR, Kathy was the deputy managing editor, Breaking News and Staff Development for the Chicago Sun-Times. She was also the managing editor for Ebony magazine. She’s worked in several newsrooms, including reporter/producer for NPR's Chicago affiliate WBEZ, managing editor at the Chicago Defender and on the commodities desk at Thomson Reuters.

Kathy is also a mother of two girls ages 17 and 22.

Ira J. Chasnoff, M.D., is one of the nation's leading researchers in the field of child development and the effects of maternal alcohol and drug use on the newborn infant and child. He is an award-winning author, researcher and lecturer, is President of the Children's Research Triangle and a Professor of Clinical Pediatrics at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago. Since 2002, Children's Research Triangle under Dr. Chasnoff's leadership has been working with the Centers for Disease Control as one of four national centers for research into innovative treatment for children with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

Dr. Chasnoff has served as the Chair of the National Medical Task Force on Methamphetamine, Children, and Families for the Congressionally authorized National Alliance on Model State Drug Laws and served as the Chair of the State Task Force on FASD for the State of Illinois. In November 2008, Dr. Chasnoff was appointed to the US Department of Health and Human Services' Interagency Coordinating Council on FASD.

Dr. Chasnoff has authored seven books including: Drugs, Alcohol, Pregnancy, and Parenting, Power Beyond Measure, Risk and Promise, and The Mystery of Risk. His most recent work focuses on community approaches to the integration of behavioral health services into primary health care for women and children and the occurrence of co-occurring mental health disorders in children who have been exposed to alcohol, methamphetamine, cocaine, and other drugs.

Dr. Julian Davies is a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington where he co-directs the Center for Adoption Medicine and works at the longest running FAS clinic in the courntry. His interest in foster care and adoption began in Russia, where he started a summer arts and clown camp for Russian orphans. He now has a pediatric practice where 2/3 of his patients were fostered or adopted. Dr. Davies also created an award-winning online resource for pediatrics and adoption adoptmed.org.

Victoria (Torie) DiMartile is a biracial Black transracial adoptee. She was adopted by a White family in Kentucky through domestic private infant adoption and grew up in a predominantly White town, school and neighborhood. Without significant access to her community of origin, she felt like she was straddling two worlds. After college, she began to explore the unaddressed impacts of her adoption story. Now, she uses her background in Anthropology and Sociology, her current doctoral studies on transracial adoption, and her personal experiences to blog, speak, and educate on the topics of positive racial identity development, transracial parenting, and issues of racism in the adoption industry.

It's her passion and hope that the experiences that have brought her difficulty in life might be used to help adoptive parents become better advocates for their child or help an adoptee feel less alone.

Torie currently lives in Bloomington, Indiana where she is completing her Ph.D in Anthropology. She can be found on the Instagram platform @wreckageandwonder where she micro-blogs and shares resources with the adoption community.

Patricia is a nationally recognized speaker and author who inspires audiences with her creative ideas and presentations. Her personal story of placing her son in a ground breaking open adoption in 1985 and the lessons learned apply to all adoptions. Her book, Because I Loved You, has been hailed as a "roadmap to open adoption".

Patricia identifies key concepts that every adoptive parent can benefit from and helps parents, birth families and counselors find their own path to success by focusing on what is best for the child.

Dr. Vernese Edghill-Walden joined Northern Illinois University in 2015 as their first chief diversity officer. In June 2020, she was promoted to Vice President for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Interim Chief Human Resource Officer. As a creative implementer, she is leading the university initiatives by aligning policies and practices between human resources and DEI that improve the university’s hiring processes, access, academic equity, inclusion, professional development & training for faculty, staff and students.

Prior to NIU, Dr. Edghill-Walden held several roles at the City Colleges of Chicago including Director of Institutional Research and Provost. Preceding the City Colleges, she served as the Director of the Center for Black Culture at the University of Delaware.

Dr. Venus E. Evans-Winters teaches Educational Policy Research, Critical Race Theory in Education, and Black Feminist Thought. She is also a clinical psychotherapist in private practice, a certified clinical trauma professional, and a licensed school social worker.

A graduate of University of Delaware, Christian Farr joined NBC5 News as a general assignment reporter and fill-in anchor in August of 2009.

He previously worked at WTTW’s “Chicago Tonight” program, as a correspondent for three years.

Prior to joining WTTW, Farr was a weekend anchor and reporter for the FOX affiliate, WTXF in Philadelphia. He began there as a General Assignment Reporter and also anchored morning news. Both the New York State Broadcasters Association and the Ohio Associated Broadcasters Association have also recognized Farr for his outstanding contributions to the field of broadcast journalism. In 2000, he won the E. W. Scripps School of Journalism award for a series on Dangerous Roads in Ohio.

Heather Forbes is the founder of the Beyond Consequences Institute. She is an internationally published author on the topics of raising children with difficult and severe behaviors, understanding the parent’s reactivity when challenged in the home, and self-development.

Forbes lectures, consults, and coaches parents throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, with families in crisis working to create peaceful, loving families. She is passionate about supporting families by bridging the gap between academic research and "when the rubber hits the road" parenting. Much of her experience and insight on understanding trauma, disruptive behaviors, developmental delays, and adoption-related issues comes from her direct mothering experience of her two internationally adopted children.

Dori Fujii is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has worked in the field of public and private child welfare and adoption since receiving her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana. She has consulted for DCFS in their pre- and post-adoptive services programs and since 1997 and has worked at The Cradle with families adopting domestically and internationally.

Dori has specialized training in attachment focused, trauma-informed treatment modalities and is a registered Circle of Security® Parent Educator and registered TBRI® Practitioner. She has particular interest in helping parents find effective ways of understanding, communicating and connecting with their children and teens. Her approach is practical and relationship oriented. She stresses the importance of being aware of how past experiences play a role in shaping the thoughts, feelings and actions of all members of the adoption circle.

Kenard Gibbs currently serves as Vice President of Midwest Advertising Sales for BET Networks (A Viacom Company). Prior to BET, he served as CEO/Partner of Soul Train Holdings and Group Publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines where he formed the Ebony/Jet Entertainment Group. He was a co-founder of Madvision Entertainment, a company specializing in the development of urban themed content for distribution across traditional broadcast and new media platforms and President of VIBE magazine.

Kenard is a graduate of Williams College and received a Masters of Management at the Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University. He is a father.

Deborah Gray specializes in the attachment, grief, and trauma issues of children in her practice. Her methods of working with children and families reflect her strong developmental and infant mental health perspective.

Her passion is to help families develop close, satisfying relationships. She has worked 20 years in children’s therapies. Deborah was the 2008 Henry W. Maier Practitioner in Residence at the School of Social Work at the University of Washington.

Deborah Gray is the author of two books, Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma, 2007, and Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents, 2002, both published by Perspectives Press. Nurturing Adoptions was a 2008 award finalist for the Benjamin Franklin best professional book of the year. Deborah is on faculty for two post-graduate certificate programs in foster and adoption therapy.

Dan Griffith is a licensed clinical psychologist and has years of experience in research and clinical practice with high risk infants/children and their families. Dr. Griffith has expertise in psychological/developmental/educational assessment and intervention with children, parent child relations and parental effectiveness training, research design and implementation, and program evaluation. He has worked with a number of high risk populations including: premature and/or low birth weight infants, infants/children prenatally exposed to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD), children with sensory/regulatory problems including ADHD and autism, and children with learning disabilities.

Robert Griggs is the proud father of triplets and his greatest joy is making sure they know he loves them, they come first, and that he will always keep their playlist up to date. He’s a proud Chicagoan and spends much of his time being the best version of himself so he can make his parents and family proud. He currently works in Metra Rail’s Marketing department and has years of experience in Sales, Advertising, Marketing and Account Management. He’s a graduate of the Kellogg School of Management and Williams College in Massachusetts. Robert is also a Board Member and alum of Link Unlimited Scholars, which is a program that connects high potential African American high school students with mentors, resources and foundational skills for success to and through college.

Robert is the host of the newly launched Supa Dupa Podcast, which can be found on Apple, Google and Spotify and is part of HP53 Productions. He also part owner of an accessories company, RobReynolds Collections, where they sell custom pocket squares, ties and face coverings.

In his spare time, Robert loves playing the drums at his church, cultivating his new love of grilling and golfing horribly.

Since 2019, he has led a team of journalists for The Associated Press (AP) that covers news in all formats on race and ethnicity and their intersection with politics, health, criminal justice and other topics.

Before that, Gross worked as an editor on the AP’s regional editing desk in Chicago for 10 years. He helped lead police shooting coverage and was dispatched to Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014 to cover the unrest after a grand jury decided not to indict the white police officer who killed Michael Brown, a Black teenager.

While working on the regional editing desk, Gross pitched in with the Race and Ethnicity team and guided several multiformat projects that won awards, including ones on the Little Rock Nine and Red Summer. The Little Rock Nine project examined race 60 years after nine Black students tested the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1957 by enrolling at a Little Rock, Arkansas, high school that had been all White. The Red Summer project looked at attacks during 1919 in which hundreds of Black people died at the hands of White people and the impact on the communities where the violence occurred.

He joined the AP in 2006 as a reporter in Kansas City, Missouri. Earlier in his career, he was a newspaper reporter at the Waterloo Courier in Iowa, The Kansas City Star and the Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio.

Gross, a native of Moberly, Missouri has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He resides in Chicago with his wife and two sons.

Ms. Hobson founded her legal solutions firm in 2010. Her practice focuses on political law and commercial litigation/dispute resolution. Ms. Hobson brings her unique mix of experience to bear to help clients achieve strategic legal, business and organizational outcomes. She also serves as an Arbitrator for the Circuit Court of Cook County’s Mandatory Arbitration Program.

Prior to starting her own firm, Ms. Hobson practiced at Sidley Austin LLP, a premier international law firm where she was a litigator who represented an array of clients, including Fortune 500 and 100 companies, corporate officers and directors, banks and accounting firms in both federal and state courts in connection with federal securities class actions, shareholder derivative suits, arbitrations and professional negligence and breach of fiduciary duty actions.

Ms. Hobson received her law degree from New York University School of Law where she was a Root-Tilden-Kern Scholar. Prior to law school, she received a M.A. from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration and spent four years in the field of social service and non-profit management.

Ms. Hobson has a long-standing commitment to civic issues and public interest law. She has been a senior member of a capital litigation team representing a man on Alabama’s death row for the past thirteen years. She also volunteers with various organizations, including Ronald McDonald House and The National Eating Disorders Association. Ms. Hobson is a wife and mother of two teenagers, member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and a Trustee at West Point Baptist Church.

Kevin Hofmann is the author of Growing Up Black in White, a memoir that shares, from the adoptee point of view, what it was like to grow up as a transracial adoptee.

He is also an accomplished writer and public speaker who has a passion for adoption, especially transracial adoption, and enjoys sharing from his experiences to help other adoptive families.

Kevin works in the field of child welfare as a recruiter for the Dave Thomas Foundation and Wendy's Wonderful Kids, finding permanent homes for foster children. Kevin has been interviewed on NPR and Nightline ABC and is quickly becoming a trusted voice in the adoption arena.

Ashanti Howard has extensive experience in elementary middle schools as a teacher, literacy coordinator, administrator and a member of academic leadership teams. She has served as an educator and instructional leader in inner-city public, bilingual and charter schools. Ashanti is currently an independent educational consultant who specializes in building the capacity of future-focused educational teams. She is the mother of a son and an adopted daughter.

Pastor Tim Howard is a servant of God, husband, father, and teacher of the Gospel. He leads a life of faith for his family and community and strongly believes that we as Christians prove our walk with Christ through how we live our lives. Pastor Tim has been happily married for 29 years and together he and his wife have grown and preached the gospel for over 25 years and have five beautiful children.

Pastor Tim first accepted the call to ministry in 1993 as a minister and then as an elder in 1999 under the leadership of the late Apostle Aaron L. Royster Sr., founding pastor of New Joy Divine Full Gospel Church. In 2014, Pastor Howard and his wife were given pastorship over the church, where they have influenced their members and community through programs and events such as ShopTalk with Pastor Tim, Sista2Sista, Community Tailgate, Inspirational Prayerline, and Vision 20/20. Pastor Tim is committed to loving all people, giving hope, and presenting the gospel to the unchurched in an unconventional and progressive way.

Dan Hughes, Ph.D. is a practicing clinical psychologist who specializes in the in the treatment of children and youth who have experienced abuse and neglect, childhood trauma and attachment disorganization.

Dr. Hughes received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Ohio University, with a clinical internship at the University of Rochester Medical School. He is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and the Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children (ATTACh).

He has provided training and consultations to therapists, social workers and parents in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Dr. Hughes is the author of Facilitating Developmental Attachment (1997), Building the Bonds of Attachment, (2006) and Attachment-Focused Family Therapy (2007).

Dr. Kimberly Jackson has spent her career working with young people from all walks of life. As a lifelong educator from Illinois, she has had the privilege of working with youth from a variety of ages, races, demographics and socio-economic conditions. Dr. Jackson is currently the Principal of a diverse middle school in the largest district in the state of Nebraska. Prior to her current position, she served as a Middle School Principal in the St. Louis Metropolitan area for 8 years. She was also a K-8 Principal in Rockford Public Schools and an Assistant Principal in her hometown high school in Edwardsville during the early days of her career.

Prior to becoming a Principal, Dr. Jackson worked as a guidance counselor where the development of her understanding and insight into child development began to mature. The combination of training as a counselor and her love for kids created a natural path. Dr. Jackson has developed a unique way of looking at child development and reaching the young people within today’s society. Her focus on the individual and helping every child discover their purpose is the foundation of her work and writing.

Dr. Jackson has brought light to the struggle that exists in the communication between generations. She has coined the phrase ‘bridge generation’, describing the generation of individuals, herself included, that fall between the current generation of young people and the older 60+ generation. She has embraced the belief that it is the responsibility of this bridge generation to hold the hands of both groups and help create an understanding that brings the ideas and energy of our youth together with the wisdom and experiences of the elders for the best solutions possible.

Dr. Jackson’s passion for writing has developed over the years and in preparation for the release of her first book, The MLK Image, the natural draw developed towards blogging as well.

Arleta James has been an adoption professional for fifteen years. She spent several years as a caseworker for the Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption Network placing foster children with adoptive families and she now works as a therapist providing services for attachment difficulties, childhood trauma and issues related to adoption. She was the 1999 Pennsylvania Adoption Professional of the Year. She is currently on staff at the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio.

She is the author of the 2012 Jessica-Kingsley Publishers’ release Brothers and Sisters in Adoption: Helping Children Navigate Relationships When New Kids Join the Family.

Dr. Johnson earned his M.D., and a Ph.D. in Anatomy, served his internship and residency, and completed his neonatology fellowship at the University of Minnesota where he currently is Professor of Pediatrics, member of the Division of Neonatology and a faculty member in the Global Pediatrics Program.

Dr. Johnson co-founded the International Adoption Clinic in 1986. His research interests include the effects of early institutionalization on growth and development and the outcomes of internationally adopted children.

Dr. Johnson is an invited speaker worldwide, a Senior Research Fellow in the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and has authored over 200 scholarly works. He received the Distinguished Service Award from the Joint Council for International Children's Services, Friend of Children Award from the North American council on Adoptable Children and the Harry Holt Award from Holt International.

He is also the father of a son adopted from India.

Gregory Keck is the founder and director of the Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio, where he specializes in working with children who have developmental trauma disorder, reactive attachment disorder and numerous other mental health difficulties.

Dr. Keck served on the board of ATTACh for nine years, two of which he served as president. He is also the co-author with Regina Kupecky, MAT, LSW of Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow (2009), Parenting Adoptive Adolescents (2009) and Adopting the Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special Needs Kids (2009).

Maureen Kelly is an adoptive mom to a 20-year-old daughter who was born in Hanoi, Vietnam and adopted at the age of six months. Maureen currently works in fundraising for Children's Home & Aid, one of the largest social service and child welfare agencies in Illinois. Prior to joining Children's Home & Aid Maureen spent 12 years working in fundraising at The Cradle, an adoption agency in Illinois, and worked to help adoptive families stay connected with their children's birth culture and with other adoptees.

Maureen lives in Evanston with her 10-year-old rescue dog, a revolving assortment of foster puppies and occasionally, when school is on break, her daughter Lia, who is finishing her first year at Colorado College.

Mei Kelly is an adoptee advocate, post-adoption coordinator for The Beat website - Beginning to Explore Adoption Together, as well as a language teacher. Born in China but raised in the Chicagoland area in a small adoption community, she recently graduated from San Francisco State University with an undergraduate degree in Chinese language. She also holds a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certificate.

In 2014, Mei created a film project called “Adoption & Identity Intertwined” that focused on adoptees’ thoughts on their identity development and adoption story. The film was produced to serve as an educational tool and a conversation starter for adoptees, families and educators. The film won an award in the Asian South East Short Film Festival's Longer Short category. During this same time, Mei became the lead coordinator for The Cradle adoption agency’s post-adoption website for teen adoptees called The BEAT. Mei’s film project is hosted on the site as well as other resources for adoptees to begin exploring their identity and adoption community.

Carrie Kitze, an adoptive mother of two children from China, is the founder and publisher of EMK Press. She is active in adoption affairs and speaks at adoption events on the topics of Adoption Parenting 101, Parenting with Narratives, Lifebooks, Ceremonies and Rituals for Adoptive Families, and Discovering Differences, a workshop for Kindergarten through third graders.

She is a past regional Families with Children from China coordinator, and has written for Adoptive Families Magazine and Adoption Today. She is the author of We See the Moon, a book for connecting with not-present or unknown birthparents, and I Don't Have Your Eyes, a book that finds commonality on the inside when the outside looks different.

She was also the creator of Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections with Sheena Macrae and Jean MacLeod, an indispensable resource for adoptive families.

Carmen Knight is an international transracial adoptee from Peru. She has her Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy. Carmen has been working in the adoption community since 2006, and is currently working as an adoptive parent counselor at The Cradle.

Some of her past experiences in the adoption field include working at culture camps and adoptee camps, leading classes and seminars on adoption topics at conferences and for various adoption agencies, speaking on adoptee panels, and helping families prepare logistically and emotionally for touring their child’s country of birth.

Danae Kovac (she/her) is a transracial, transnational Korean adoptee who grew up in Michigan. She has been active in the adult Korean adoptee community in Chicago since 2008, serving as a current Advisory Board member and former Board member of Korean Adoptees of Chicago (KAtCH). She has returned to Korea several times, first with an adult adoptee homeland tour in 2006 and subsequently to participate in multiple International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA) Gatherings. Danae currently works as the Deputy Director of Operations at HANA Center, where she supports and organizes with the Korean community in the Chicagoland area. She received her B.A. from Wheaton College.

Phyllis Laughlin has been an adoption counselor at The Cradle Adoption Agency for over 10 years. She and her staff work with adoptive parents as they go through the home study process and accept placement. Phyllis works with families adopting domestically, internationally and special needs infants and children. She also facilitates training sessions to prepare prospective adoptive parents for adoption, including openness.

Tara is an African Vietnamese American transethnic adoptee, and knows well the challenges and successes of claiming more than one transformative experience. She is the Co-Founder and Vice President of AmerAsians Building Bridges consulting, which provides training and resources that enrich the lives of members of the adoption constellation and their allies. Her writings and presentations include The Power of Ambiguity, published in Adoption Today, and a keynote given at the National Press Club in Washington, DC entitled “Adoption in the Media: Why Context Matters.” She has worked internationally and nationally advancing social change, including service as deputy director of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a teacher in Johannesburg, South Africa, and currently serves on the board of Holt International Children's Services, one of the nation’s oldest and largest child welfare agencies, and Holt International Foundation of China. Tara is a graduate of Cornell University and Georgetown University Law Center, and resides in the People's Republic of Brooklyn. Please feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn.

Ryan is a practicing attorney with Mayer Brown LLP in downtown Chicago. Prior to attending law school, Ryan spent four years on active duty in the United States Army.

Ryan was born and raised in western Kansas before leaving the state to attend college in Indiana. As part of his undergraduate studies, Ryan spent a year studying in Innsbruck, Austria, where he met his wife. Following graduation, they spent three more years living in Germany. Following his time in the Army, they moved back to Chicago where Ryan attended law school and his wife taught 6th grade while getting her Masters in teaching.

They have lived in Oak Park since 2001 and are the parents of four children.

Ana Lincoln (she/her) lives in the D.C. area with her husband and is finishing her doctorate in Literary Studies from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She was adopted from South Korea through the Holt agency at the age of 4 months and grew up in the Pacific Northwest.

Dewitt Anthony Love is a native Chicagoan. He was raised in Chicago’s West Chatham neighborhood, located on the city’s south side.

He is a graduate of Lindblom Technical High School. After graduating high school, Mr. Love spent a year at Livingston College in Salisbury, North Carolina before transferring and joining his older brother at Morehouse College where Mr. Love earned a degree in English. Mr. Love holds two Masters, one in Curriculum and Instruction and another in Educational Administration; both degrees were earned at Concordia University, River Forest.

In the fall of 1992, Mr. Love joined Chicago Public Schools as an elementary school teacher. He taught elementary school from 1992 to 2004. In the fall of 2004, Mr. Love began teaching high school English, first at Al Raby High School and then Westinghouse College Prep High School. In the winter of 2019 Mr. Love transitioned to being an administrator with Chicago Public Schools.

Mr. Love believes in doing authentic community service projects and does community service work through his church, college alumni chapter, and with the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

Mr. Love is married and they are raising an amazing five-year old daughter.

Kanetha C. Lyke is the Founder and Owner of Lyke Your Image LLC and Independent Beauty Consultant with Mary Kay. She started her Image Consulting Company while working as a Public Servant. After spending a little more than a decade working in law enforcement, she took an early retirement to focus on her business and family. Retirement from her previous career was an opportunity to provide a different type of service for those in need.

Michelle Madrid-Branch is an author, speaker and global advocate for women and children. She is the Executive Producer and Host of The Greater Than Project, a documentary web series exploring the intrinsic greatness within women. Michelle enjoyed a decade-long successful career as a television news anchor and investigative journalist, including an Emmy nomination while on-air with ABC-TV. She has three books in print—The Tummy Mummy, Adoption Means Love: Triumph of the Heart, and Mascara Moments: Embracing the Woman in the Mirror—and is currently writing a fourth. Michelle has been referred to as a “world-wide voice on adoption” by Adoption Australia. She was inducted into the New Mexico Women’s Hall of Fame in 2006 and honored with the Governor’s Award for Outstanding New Mexico Women by Governor Bill Richardson. An international adoptee herself, she is the recipient of the 2004 Congressional Angels in Adoption Award.

Jason Jaleal Maymon is a junior at Florida State University, majoring in Political Science with a minor in International Affairs. He was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago until the age of 12. He moved to Harlem, NY, and lived there throughout middle school and most of high school until moving to St. Petersburg, FL during his senior year. He plans to pursue a career in the non-profit sector after college.

Marcell Darius Moore is a 17 year old beginning his senior year at Mather High School in Chicago in 2020. He has a passion for music, his instrument of choice is the bass guitar, and he is the creator of a band in which he and his other musically inclined friends play at most school events. He has been acting in school plays since the 6th grade which has fueled aspirations for acting and modeling. He loves living in Chicago and also loves helping people in his community. Marcell has been involved with the community organization After School Matters.

Glenn Murray is the founder of 220 Holdings-the parent company to 220 Publishing and 220 Marketing and Media. The company has published more than 50 books across many different genres. As a writer, Glenn has blogged for the NBC Chicago Street Teams, contributed articles to 360 Magazine, authored the blog, “Stop, Look, Listen”, for Chicagonow.com and contributed to “The Entrepreneur Within You” book series. In 2019, he released his first solo work, “You Wrote It, Now Go Sell It, A Marketing and Promotions Guide for Authors in A Few Simple Steps”.

He co-founded film and television production entity G-Rose Productions which produces the unscripted series Making Love Better Twogether and Live From the Cave. He has been featured in Rolling Out, Ebony/Jet Online, the Chicago Sun Times, Voyage Atlanta Magazine and The Backstory Television Show.

Rebecca I. Nelson Ph.D., is a licensed clinical child & adolescent psychologist. She is on the professional staff with NorthShore University Health System in the Dept. of Pediatrics at Evanston Hospital in Illinois. She provides psychodiagnostic and consult services for neurodevelopmentally at-risk infants to teens. Dr. Nelson has also specialized in adoption for two decades across psychodiagnostic, consultative, educative, and community liaison roles. She is personally touched by adoption, and was adopted from South Korea at the age of 5½ adding a unique understanding of the developmental and psychological complexities that can challenge adoptees and their families.

Martha created RainbowKids.com Adoption Advocacy website in 1996 with the purpose of finding homes for children labeled "special needs". Martha is herself an adoptee and the mother of 5 children through adoption. Since its conception RainbowKids has grown into a trusted on-line advocacy force for international children needing families. Networking with over 70 adoption agencies and numberous advocacy groups and humanitatian organizations that share the same vision, RainbowKids has assisted over 11,000 children in finding their way home.

Marilyn has more than 40 years of adoption and child welfare experience in administration, supervision and casework, and is the Executive Director of Adoptions Unlimited. Prior to establishing Adoptions Unlimited, Ms. Panichi was the Executive Director of the Adoption Information Center of Illinois under the auspices of the Child Care Association of Illinois.

She began her career with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as a Child Welfare Worker and Adoption Coordinator.

She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Academy of Certified Social Workers. Ms Panichi is co-founder of the Adoption Exchange Association where she currently serves as board member and treasurer.

Schan Parker is a 20 year old attending Kennedy-King College, studying culinary arts and psychology. Throughout his life he has experienced homelessness, mental and physical abuse; his hardships have made him a survivor and a leader. He is known for his outstanding leadership and confidence, and thinks it’s vital that we learn from our past so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. After college he wants to pursue a career as a private chef and also mentor youth in Chicago.

Currently Owner and Advisor of Strategic Advice Services and former President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tucson Urban League, has over 25 years experience working within the community development field facilitating projects, coalitions, and alliances at the neighborhood, citywide, regional, national and international levels.

Jonathan received a BA in African-American Studies and Political Science from Earlham College. Adopted transracially from Vietnam, he is the father of two sons.

Over the last thirty years, Dr. Perry has been an active teacher, clinician and researcher in children's mental health and the neurosciences. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago.

Dr. Perry is the author, with Maia Szalavitz, of The Boy Who Was Raised As A Dog, and Born For Love: Why Empathy is Essential and Endangered. He is the author of over 300 journal articles, book chapters and scientific proceedings and is the recipient of numerous professional awards and honors, including the T. Berry Brazelton Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award, the Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare and the Alberta Centennial Medal.

Dr. Perry's research includes: the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain development, the neurobiology of human neuropsychiatric disorders, the neurophysiology of traumatic life events, and long-term cognitive, behavioral, emotional, social and physiological effects of neglect and trauma in children, adolescents and adults. His work has resulted in the development of innovative clinical practices and programs working with maltreated and traumatized children.

Dr. Karyn Purvis is the founder and director of the Texas Christian University Institute of Child Development and a passionate advocate for "children from hard places", a phrase that describes children with histories of trauma, abuse and neglect. Dr. Purvis and her mentor and colleague, Dr. David Cross, currently lead the Institute in its triple mission of research, education and outreach on behalf of at-risk children.

Dr. Purvis and Cross also co-authored The Connected Child: Bringing Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family and developed Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), a step-by-step intervention designed to bring deep healing to at-risk children and their struggling families. In 1999, Dr. Purvis launched The Hope Connection, a summer camp that serves as a research and training lab for adopted children and their parents and students.

A noted author, scholar and popular speaker, Dr. Purvis holds a PhD in developmental psychology from Texas Christian University. She was appointed to chair the state committee that set licensing standards for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, has trained judicial and court personnel, caseworkers and orphanage caregivers.

Honors include: T. Berry Brazelton MD Infant Mental Health Advocacy Award; Heroes of Healthcare Award, Families Supporting Adoption Hall of Fame Award, the James Hammerstein Award, and a Distinguished Fellow in Adoption and Child Development.

Dr. Purvis is a former foster mother, a mother of three sons, and a grandmother of eight, two of whom are adopted.

Tennille is responsible for managing the production of all ORS™ educational content. A Licensed Cosmetology Teacher, with a BA in Business Administration, Tennille is an Education Project Manager who studied Integrated Marketing at The University of Chicago.

With a career that has progressed over 20 years in the beauty industry, her experience encompasses working in prestigious salon environments, cosmetology education, consumer care, new product development and independently offering professional development for cosmetologists. She now manages education projects for the ORS™ brands. Through the span of her career, she has gained a host of certifications for working with salon brands and has also contributed to ensuring adequate product performance during the development of a host of retail products.

Evan J. Roberts is an author, educator, professional speaker, and mentor. As a classroom teacher and writer, he teaches children, teens, and adults about the real keys to success in life. His personal mission statement, "Empowering Youth Now and For the Rest of Their Lives," serves as the foundation for the literary works that he creates. He is the father of a young son who served as the inspiration for his children’s series, Khahari Discovers The Joy of Family.

Dr. Ian Roberts is a Network Superintendent with Saint Louis Public Schools, where he oversees middle and high school principals, providing them with intensive coaching for effectiveness, rather than for compliance, through an empathetic and compassionate orientation. Prior roles include senior positions at schools in New York and Washington, DC and as a special education teacher in Baltimore.

Craig obtained a BA in Marketing from Hampton University, an HBCU in Virginia. Upon graduation he went to work for the New York Times in customer service and training and spent four years as a circulation director where he managed 156 publications. Craig implanted a “Newspaper in Education Program” in Brooklyn and was given the largest circulation for the New York Times at that time, lower Manhattan. The tragedy of September 11th devastated Craig’s new territory just 10 days later. Craig was just minutes away from the World Trade Center when the first plane hit.

Craig began his career with Johnson Publishing Company in 2006. As an account executive for JET Magazine, he showed immediate results in growing existing clients and breaking business. After four promotions he was the Sales Manager for the Eastern Region. His responsibilities included advertising sales for Ebony and JET Magazine, digital sales, sponsorships and managing a team of three people.

Craig is the single parent of a 10 year old daughter, whose mother passed when the baby was only 8 months old. It was at that time, Craig relocated back home to Teaneck New Jersey.

Craig was on the founding committee for the second all boys’ school, Eagle Academy, of Brooklyn New York. He is passionate about mentoring young African American men in hopes that they will have opportunities that were made available to him when he was growing up in a single parent household. Craig’s other interests are sports, traveling, spending time with family, and getting mani-pedis with his daughter.

Katja Rowell M.D. is a family doctor turned childhood feeding specialist, supporting foster and adoptive parents with relationship-building strategies to getting children fed. Described as “academic but down to earth,” Dr. Rowell addresses concerns around growth and weight, 'picky' eating, food aversions, feeding therapy ‘failures,’ and children who are food-preoccupied. Rowell offers practical advice with a focus on felt safety first to help children do their best with eating.

Rowell is on the advisory panel for the SPOON foundation and speaks to caregivers, parents and professionals across the nation on best feeding practices. Her books include Love Me, Feed Me: The Foster and Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Responsive Eating (second edition) and Helping Your Child with Extremely Picky Eating.

As a researcher and teacher, Dr. Samuels focuses on issues of identity development for foster youth and adopted persons. She was also transracially adopted as an infant from foster care.

Barbara Sereda is an attorney and president and founder of Adoption Advocates of America, which seeks to improve adoption practice in Illinois through passage of legislation. Over the past 20 years she has played a key role in drafting, consensus building and advocating for dozens of laws reforming adoption in Illinois, including the Adoption Reform Act and the Original Birth Certificate Access law. She is past chair of the Chicago Bar Association’s Adoption Law Committee and currently serves as co-chair of the Adoption Law Committee’s Legislative subcommittee and as a member of the CBA’s Legislative Committee. Barbara served for 12 years on the board of The Cradle adoption agency, and currently serves on the boards of Family Service of Lake County and the Music Institute of Chicago, and as an appointee of the IDPH and DCFS Confidential Intermediary-Adoption Registry Advisory Council. She served for 6 years as co-president of the District 113 Education Foundation and on the 112 Education Foundation board. She is past president of the Illinois Lawyers’ Assistance Program, and previously served on the boards of Family and Children’s AIDS Network (FCAN), DePaul University’s Community Mental Health Center, and Lutheran Social Services of Illinois’ Behavioral Advancement Council. Barbara was in litigation practice prior to her professional work in adoption advocacy as in-house counsel for Allstate Insurance Company’s Corporate Litigation Division and as an associate at the law firm of Phelan, Pope & John. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a B.S. in Psychology from Wellesley College and earned a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law. She and her husband, Peter, reside in Highland Park, Illinois where they raised their three children, two of whom they adopted from South Korea.

Betsy Keefer Smalley, LCSW, has thirty-three years of experience in the field of child welfare, specializing in the areas of adoption, kinship, and foster care. She is a training consultant for the Institute for Human Services, Program Manager at the Ohio Child Welfare Training Program, a consultant to the Center for Child Welfare Policy, and a clinical consultant to the Family Trust Clinic.

With colleague Jayne Schooler, Ms. Keefer Smalley co-authored the award-winning book, Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: Making Sense of the Past. She is lead author of the 10-module IHS Adoption Assessor training series, and the Preservice Training for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Caregivers, and has prepared over 600 foster care and adoption specialists to use these curricula.

Scott was born in St Joseph, Michigan, and raised in Matteson, Illinois. He has a college-age daughter.

He obtained a degree in Political Science from Roosevelt University in Chicago and a Computer Science degree from DeVry University, after having served in the Army as a US Paratrooper. Scott worked as an independent IT Migration Specialist in the Chicagoland area for about a decade before settling down the Chicago Public School as a Network Engineer.

He enjoys volunteering his time to different non-profits, equality advocate groups as well as speaking for adoption groups about multicultural adoptions from the Black male perspective as someone raised in a White family environment.

Scott has worked alongside the adoption communities for almost 20 years. Past experiences in the adoption field include working in culture groups, adoptee camps and leading panels on different topics addressing race, adoption and “surviving” the White experience as a Black child. He’s been heard on the radio and has been a presenter at YMCA culture camps. Specialty topics include transracial & racial conflicts in adoption, openness in adoption, the “angry adoptee” syndrome and adoption through the lifespan as an outspoken Black adult male POC. His scholarly interests include multiethnic identities , parental socialization in adoption and societal deconstruction of racial tensions in politics, economics and cultural identities.

Scott celebrates being a Biracial/Transracial adoptee and reconnected with his birth mother and family 46 years after having been adopted. His journey continues as he expands his interests of sharing the adoptive perspective with newer adopting families, growing adoption agencies and the need to bring greater awareness of the transracial adoptee experience for children, teens and adults.

Susan is Program and Project Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, and Co-Director of the Center for Adoption Studies at Illinois State University is a leading scholar in the field of post-adoption services. A licensed clinical social worker and Emerita Professor of Social Work at Illinois State University, she has published several books and numerous articles in scholarly journals.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recognized her pioneering work, along with Dr. Jeanne Howard, with its 2002 Excellence Award for applied scholarship and research. Dr. Smith is a recipient of the Angels in Adoption Award (2006).

Susan Soonkeum Cox is Vice President Policy & External Affairs, for Holt International and is an internationally recognized expert and presenter on child welfare and adoption. She testifies regularly before Congress on these issues and has attended numerous White House briefings on public policy regarding adoption and child welfare; was instrumental in passing legislation providing automatic citizenship for children adopted abroad and to ratify the Hague Convention on Intercountry adoption in the U.S.

Ms. Cox has published numerous articles and papers; is editor of the anthologies, Voices from Another Place; More Voices; and founder of the Gathering for Korean Adoptees in 1999 in Washington D.C. and the Reunion of Vietnamese Adoptees.

Ms. Cox is a member of the Hague Special Commission on Intercountry Adoption; and was appointed by President Clinton to the White House Commission on Asian and Pacific Islanders. She was invited as a special guest to attend South Korea’s 60th Anniversary Celebration; and was awarded an Honorary Citizen of Seoul in 2005 by President elect Lee Myung-bak.

In 2013, Susan was appointed as Honorary Consul for the State of Oregon in Eugene, by the Republic of Korea Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Judy, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and adoptive mom, has been serving families and children in the field of adoption for over 30 years. Instrumental in launching The Cradle's international program, Judy was also a lead developer for Adoption Learning Partner's debut course, Conspicuous Families.

She serves on the board of Adoptive Families magazine, is the past president of Joint Council on International Children's Services, and is currently serving as the Clinical Director of Adoption Learning Partners.

Susan Stutzman, LCPC, RPT-S is a Child Therapist with Kid Matters Counseling. See her professional biohere . Clinical specialties include: Anxiety & Anger, Behavior Issues, Depression, Emotional Regulation, Parent/Child Relationship, Theraplay®, Trauma, Sexual Abuse, Synergetic Play Therapy, Somatic Touch, PANDAS, and Parenting Support.

Susan received her Masters in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton Graduate School and is a Certified Theraplay® Practitioner, Certified Synergetic Play Therapist (SPT), Certified Transforming Touch® Practitioner and has her certificate in Trauma Treatment for Children and Adolescents. She is the former President of the Illinois association for Play Therapy.

Ms. Stutzman uses the therapeutic power of play and brain research education to provide practical solutions to restore emotional stability for the child.

Angela Taylor was born and raised on the south side of Chicago. She has a BS degree in Advertising from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MS degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

Angela has worked in the marketing industry for over 20 years, holding positions at General Mills and Simon Marketing before joining PepsiCo in Chicago 17 years ago.

Percy Thomas III is a Grant Administrator with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Percy serves a liaison between the finance team and the program staff at AAP where he oversees a $25 million budget that is spread across 50 grants. Percy sees his assignment at AAP as a way to provide the infrastructure for pediatricians to build a healthy future for our children.

Percy also worked as the Chief Revenue Analyst for the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Event (DCASE) and served as the Finance Manager of the Chicago Tourism Fund. At DCASE, Percy was the first line of defense for anything finance and oversaw a $30 million departmental budget for City of Chicago. At DCASE, they put on more than 2,000 high-quality free exhibitions, concerts, theatrical and dance performances, lectures and discussions and other programs offered each year at the historic Chicago Cultural Center, Millennium Park, Grant Park, and other venues throughout the city.

He's served on the several boards including of The Chill William’s Veteran Relief NFP; the Keller Investment Club; and the Chicago Culver-Stockton Alumni Board. He received his BA in Business Administration from Culver-Stockton College and his MBA in Finance at the Keller Graduate School of Management.

Percy is a devoted husband to his wife of 14 years and they share two amazing kids. In his spare time, he enjoys traveling and spending time with his family.

Sarah is a graduate of both Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the University of Virginia School of Law. She currently works as a legal headhunter working with attorneys in the government, corporations, and large law firms.

Sarah currently resides most of the time in an old farmhouse facing the Blue Ridge outside of Charlottesville, VA and part-time in Northwest, Washington, DC. She is a painter, writer, rescue-dog mom, lover of stories, dedicated yogi and very, very slow runner. During the pandemic, she has become handy in all of the small-things-needed-to-be-done-around-the-house including re-staining her deck, rescuing a bird’s nest from under the hood of her car, and catching a opossum in her basement.

Chad Weiden is principal of Edgebrook Elementary School in Chicago. He previously worked as an Assistant Principal at Blaine Elementary School in Lakeview and as a teacher, assistant principal and then principal of Social Justice High School in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. He also served as an adjunct faculty member at National Louis University in the Educational Leadership Department. He is the adoptive father of two biracial children.

Lynn Wetterberg, MS is the former Executive Director of ATTACh, a national organization of clinicians, advocates and parents of attachment disordered children. Lynn currently serves as the President of Comfort the Children, a humanitarian aid and child advocacy organization, and is a founding member of For the Children, SOS, a grass roots organization which advocates for Romania's orphaned children.

Lynn served as a co-founder and Executive Director of Uniting Families Foundation (UFF), a licensed child welfare agency, assisting in the placement of children from orphanages overseas. During her tenure she assisted in the placement of more than 50 older and special needs children.

Lynn also served on the Board of Directors of Joint Council on International Children's Services for seven years. A recipient of the Congressional Angel in Adoption Award, Lynn Wetterberg remains devoted to the right of every child to be raised in a permanent, loving family.

Lynn has four children, three adopted from Romania and one from Russia.

Brinaro White is a 16 year old junior at Brother Rice High School. He was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and will soon relocate to the Beverly neighborhood with his dad and step-mom. He is a combination of African-American and Belizean heritage and considers it an immense blessing to visit his grandparents every Christmas break in Belize. He wants to pursue a career in entrepreneurship because he believes in starting and building something of his own. He also enjoys playing basketball and squash.

Kara Burrell Wright is founder of Mindhearted, Inc., a diversity education company for parents passionate about raising culturally competent children. The Mindhearted community has parent subscribers in the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa—all with the mission of respecting and building understanding with people regardless of background, beliefs, education, experience, gender, sexual identity, religion or skin tone.