Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

Andrea Damone-Brown received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and her Masters in Education focusing on Professional Counseling and Psychotherapy through Oklahoma City University. She has been working in the adoption field since 1992 and was the Director at a licensed adoption agency in Dallas for six years. Andrea also co-founded and co-Directed Lifetree Adoption Agency in Dallas, Texa...

Steve Sunday has worked in the field of adoption for more than four decades as a caseworker, supervisor, and administrator. Currently, he is the Founder and President/CEO of Forever Bound Adoption, as well as an advisor to the adoption advocacy support organization, United for Adoption. Since graduating with his MSW in 1981 from Arizona State University, he has worked professionally in Arizona, Ne...

Pat joined the Coalition team in December 2016 as the Director of AGAPE in the Southern Tier/Finger Lakes region.  After three months he transferred to the Long Island Rockland Region to be the Director of AGAPE after AFFCNY was awarded an additional contract. He now serves as the Coalition’s Executive Director. Pat is an adoptive dad. The former Founder and Executive Director of You Gotta Believe...

Matthew McCall started at The Home in 1998 as a Child Care Worker. Matthew has held virtually every client serving role at The Home, from counselor, to clinician, program and department director, in both congregate care and community settings.  For much of his career at The Home, Matthew served as an internal consultant to all The Home’s programs, providing support and leadership during times of t...

This Is Me - No Darkness Too Deep Here's a bit about Fiona's Autobiography "This is my story, a harrowing account of me as a young mixed up teenager going down many wrong paths, into the darkness of drug and alcohol addiction, prostitutution and surviving more than one life-or-death moment in the midst of the madness.  The book also details my encounter with Christ and the journey of a baby Christ...

Karen is the State Director for Pennsylvania at Children's Choice Here's a link to podcast mentioned in this episode https://thriving-adoptees.simplecast.com/episodes/unpacking-our-own-baggage-as-adoptive-parents-with-hollyann-petree-mom-executive-director Children’s Choice was founded on April 1st, 1982. By Reverend Doctor William and Doctor Carolyn Eberwein. Affectionately known as Doctor Bill a...

Shaun Doyle comes to Adoption STAR with 20 years of experience working for not-for-profits in the area of developmental disability. After studying at SUNY Fredonia, Shaun moved to Orlando, Florida to work for Walt Disney World. There he learned to train not only Disney Cast Members, but also to train people from other organizations on Disney’s Approach to Quality Service and Disney’s Innovation in...

“Adoption is my life and passion! I was adopted at birth, domestically. I have searched and found my birth family. I am also a mother of four children. I became the Executive Director of CHI in 1994, after adopting our daughter in 1991 in Romania, on our own. I have a Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work and have been blessed to have had the opportunity to work worldwide with CHI, developing progr...

Emily is a Care Leaver Mentor for Empower Change. Since graduating high school in 2016, Emily has completed her certificate four in community services. In 2015 she had her son, who has just started kindergarten. In 2016 pursued photography as a formal trade and experienced some of the most special moments between married couples and families but it still wasn't fulfilling her. After her care exper...

Michele Fried is the founder of Adoption STAR. Though the “title” most special to her is “mom” ~ it was a long time ago, but the experiences of becoming an adoptive mother led Michele to enter the adoption field. Michele’s background as an educator complimented this path. Michele served as the agency’s chief executive officer for over 20 years and grew the staff from a tiny office with one person...

Skip joined the Lifeline team in August of 2018 and serves in the Birmingham office as the Assistant to the Executive Director. Skip comes from a family with 7 adopted siblings. She also lived in Zambia, Africa for 2 years working with and counseling vulnerable children. She’s originally from Montgomery, AL and attended Covenant College where she studied Sociology: Social Work and Family Studies....

Connect with Kristine at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinemoser/ here's a bit about Bellis  from their website: Our mission is to serve as an empowering voice for adoption that connects, inspires, and transforms. Our reach extends to all people with any adoption experience who seek peer-based support for ambiguous grief related to adoption. Often, participants work together to advocate for grea...

Maris H. Blechner, M.Ed., LCSW is a well-known and well-respected educator, consultant, and motivational speaker. An adoptive parent, she spent many years in the child welfare field as Executive Director of an adoption agency, and is a wide-ranging speaker and trainer. She is now doing independent work, and has a great deal to offer. Whether teaching at a social work school, training foster and ad...

Lori is the founder, CEO and President of FosterAdopt Connect. Lori and her husband Randy have been foster/adoptive parents since 1985. Together they have cared for more than 400 foster children and adopted 23 children, in addition to their five biological children. Lori and Randy are currently also the proud grandparents of 17 children so far. Lori holds a degree in psychology which she completed...

Crystal Young is the founding director of Hope Center and has served in this capacity since 2018. Crystal is a 2006 graduate of Tennessee Technological University, and holds a Masters of Public Health from Liberty University. Prior to her role as Hope Center’s Executive Director, Crystal served for 5 years with Tennessee’s Department of Children’s Services, and also as Vice President to Hope Cente...

Connect with Celestina at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coachcelestina/ PullTogether is about enlisting parents, families, community members, and young people in the fight to make sure New Mexico's children are safe, cared for, and ready to succeed. Find out more at: https://pulltogether.org/ The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department provides an array of prevention, intervention, rehab...

After successfully adopting 2 children in 2020, Eric and Marissa decided to work at helping other families achieve the same.  In addition to a fulltime job as a lead pastor, Eric worked 20 additional hours a week on a side hustle making websites.  Marissa got a part-time job in addition to homeschooling their two biological children.  With these additional jobs, fundraisers, the generosity of frie...

Jenn is Co-Founder & Executive Director of UARE Utah Coalition for Adoption Reform & Education. She's been recognized nationally with Spokeo Search Angel Award 2015 for personally facilitating over 100 adoption reunions. She has also lead online support community for over 300 members of the adoption constellation and trained teams of volunteer DNA researchers to help adult adoptees find birth fami...

Marcie J. Keithley, Co founder and President, is a retired Vice President of Retail Bank Management and was also a licensed securities and insurance representative serving the financial community for over 32 years. Her background includes sales, management, operations, team development and leadership. She has served on a variety of boards during her career such as Habitat for Humanity, United Way,...

Born in India, adopted at 10 months, raised in Australia, Vin is a true one off. He runs a Facebook group where adoptees and adopters can learn from one another in a friendly and no conflict environment. Connect with him at: https://www.facebook.com/VinAdopteewarrior/ https://www.instagram.com/vinadoptee Here's the link I mention in the show https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Neill/e/B0034PVSJ0 Guests...

Annalisa is mixed-race Welsh and Jamaican and was adopted at four years old by Jamaican parents. Annalisa is an award-winning cultural producer, communications and marketing consultant, and journalist whose work and research focus on racial identity, anti-racism, sustainable change, and developmental trauma. You can read more about Annalisa's adoption story  here  and her thoughts on why adult ado...

Here's a bit about Taylor from his website My name is Taylor and I was born in Cheboksarui, Russia in October 1986. I lived there for five years with my family. I had one brother who is four years older than me and one sister who is two years younger than me. At the age of five, I lost my dad. Since that point, my biological mom, my younger sister, and I began traveling all over Russia as a homele...

Dr. Catherine Horvath is a registered psychologist with competencies in clinical work with children, adolescents, and families, as well as forensic work with adolescents. Dr. Horvath has experience in working with those struggling with disruptive behaviours, self-regulation, attachment, and sexual behaviour issues related to histories of adverse childhood experiences, complex developmental trauma,...

David Schunk was born in Smolensk, Russia in 1994.  He was adopted at a young age by an American family from New Hampshire.  He was a resident of Bedford, New Hampshire since he could remember until he left for college in 2013.  He studied Computer Networking and Cyber Security at Champlain College, located in Burlington Vermont. David currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Fou...

Melanie Scheetz and her husband are proud adoptive parents of two children. Melanie has 29 years of non-profit management experience in the areas of administration and development. She joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition as its Executive Director in 1999. Under her guidance, the agency developed the groundbreaking programs, Extreme Recruitment® and 30 Days to Family®. Melanie has been hono...