Thriving Adoptees - Let's Thrive

Here's a bit about Meg and the Trust she works for. As the Director of Home Visiting Training and Professional Development, Meg oversees all initial and ongoing professional development for home visiting staff across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

During her tenure with the Children’s Trust, Meg has developed partnerships to strengthen and advance home visiting at the state and national levels. For seven years, Meg coordinated the Healthy Families Massachusetts training program. Prior to joining the Children’s Trust, Meg directed early literacy programs for young children and worked as a preschool teacher.

Meg received her master’s degree from the University of Massachusetts and has extensive experience in early education, adult learning and integration, and instructional design.

Our programs partner with parents to help them build the lifelong skills and self-confidence they need to ensure children grow up safe and healthy.

https://www.childrenstrustma.org/

https://www.facebook.com/trust4kids

https://www.instagram.com/trust4kids/

https://www.youtube.com/childrenstrustfund

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Genevieve is the Executive Director of A Family in Bloom Adoption and also one of the Placement Supervisors. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and received her Master’s Degree from the University of California Santa Barbara in Counseling Psychology in 1990 with a focus in Marriage, Family, and Children. Her 30 years of experience in the field encompasses work in child abuse prevention, University counseling programs; as a school psychologist, and for the last fifteen years, exclusively in the adoption field. Before founding A Family in Bloom Adoption in 2011, Genevieve was employed by several long-standing agencies in the State of Colorado. She has spent much of her adult life living, working, and traveling abroad. Two of her own three children are adopted internationally and transracially.

Here's some info from Genevieve's agency's website:

 A Family in Bloom Adoption is a licensed, Hague Approved International and Domestic Adoption Agency in Colorado. We help create and grow families through international adoptions.

Our mission is to accomplish this goal through quality personalized service, with a commitment to high ethics and integrity. Central to the agency’s philosophy is the belief that every child deserves a loving, secure, and permanent family. Respect, care, and understanding are integral to our work with birth parents. The agency works with any applicant, birth parent, or adoptive child regardless of race, ethnicity, or national origin. We are licensed for adoptions in the age range of 0 to 18 years. Children with special needs can be placed by the agency.

https://www.afamilyinbloomadoption.com/
 

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

For more than 30 years, Rita Soronen has worked on behalf of abused, neglected and vulnerable children, providing leadership for local, state and national efforts, working to improve the juvenile justice and child welfare systems while striving to assure safe and permanent homes for North America’s children.

Leading the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity, since 2001 and the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption-Canada since 2004, Ms. Soronen works to find permanent families for the more than 135,000 waiting children in North America’s foster care systems. Under her leadership, the Foundation has significantly increased its grant-making while developing strategic initiatives that act on the urgency of the issue. In 2021, the Foundation dedicated more than $40.9 million to grants and award-winning programs, such as Wendy’s Wonderful Kids®, Adoption-Friendly Workplace™ and National Adoption Day. Additionally, through public service announcements, social media campaigns, articles, events, sponsorships and more, the Foundation is building awareness around the growing need for foster care adoption.

Under Ms. Soronen’s leadership, the Foundation created Wendy’s Wonderful Kids in 2004 with seven pilot sites as a platform to engage more partners to transform failing child welfare practices and, most importantly, to aggressively find the right families for children waiting much too long to be adopted. In 2011, a rigorous, five-year national evaluation by Washington, D.C.-based Child Trends revealed that a child referred to the Wendy’s Wonderful Kids program is up to three times more likely to be adopted. In 2017, with the support of the Blue Meridian Partners, the Foundation launched an aggressive, multi-year business plan to take Wendy’s Wonderful Kids to scale in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. With support from the Foundation’s partners and generous donors, more than 500 Wendy’s Wonderful Kids recruiters have helped to find forever families for more than 12,000 children in foster care and counting across the U.S. and Canada.

Prior to joining the Foundation, Ms. Soronen served as the executive director of Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Franklin County. During that time, she also served as the president of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio CASA/GAL Association and led the passage of specialty license plate legislation benefiting CASA programs throughout Ohio, as well as the design and implementation of model program standards assuring the consistent application of effective advocacy for children involved in court proceedings at the local and state levels.

Ms. Soronen is a nationally recognized child welfare advocate. She has testified before the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth on the importance of foster care adoption. A requested national speaker on the topics of children, the child welfare system and social innovation, Ms. Soronen has been a featured presenter at events for the Center for Adoption Support and Education, Children Need Amazing Parents, National Association of County Commissioners, the National Council for Adoption, North American Council on Adoptable Children, the Philanthropy Roundtable and at While House adoption events, among others. Ms. Soronen is a founding board member and past vice president of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and is a current member of the advisory board. She also serves as a member of Barco’s Nightingales Foundation’s advisory board and the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) Association for Children’s board of trustees.

Ms. Soronen is a founding board member and past vice president of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute and is a current member of the advisory board. She also serves as a member of Barco’s Nightingales Foundation’s advisory board and the National Court Appointed Special Advocate/Guardian ad Litem (CASA/GAL) Association for Children’s board of trustees. Ms. Soronen is a recipient of the Angels in Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, the National CASA Association Kappa Alpha Theta Program Director of the Year Award, the Ohio CASA/GAL Association Statewide Leadership Award and was a 2013 recipient of WSNY’s 20 Outstanding Women You Should Know. She is a fellow of the Jefferson Fellowship for Executive Leadership; was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Community Leadership from Franklin University in 2016; was named a YWCA Woman of Achievement in 2017; was named a National Number One by the Columbus Foundation in 2018; and was honored with Smart Business Network’s 2019 Smart 50 Program Award for Impact, Giving Back to the Community.

A graduate of the University of Louisville, Ms. Soronen resides in Columbus, Ohio.

Ms. Soronen is a member of the Forbes Nonprofit Council and shares insights regularly through articles with fellow council members. Read Ms. Soronen’s latest articles.

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is the only public nonprofit charity in the United States that is focused exclusively on foster care adoption. Through its signature program, Wendy’s Wonderful Kids®, the Foundation funds adoption professionals, known as recruiters, who are dedicated to finding loving, permanent homes for children waiting in foster care.

The Foundation works closely with child welfare advocates and policymakers, provides free resources about foster care adoption and raises awareness through social media campaigns, public service announcements and events.

More at:

https://www.facebook.com/DaveThomasFoundationforAdoption

https://twitter.com/DTFA

https://www.instagram.com/dtfa/

https://www.youtube.com/user/DaveThomasFoundation

https://www.davethomasfoundation.org/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

An adoptive mother of two now-adult children and a former foster parent, Gayle H. Swift is also a certified coach, co-founder of  GIFT (Growing Intentional Families Together). GIFT provides family coaching before, during and after adoption, a former teacher, and former newsletter editor. As a staunch adoptee-rights activist, Gayle has presented at the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) Conference. She believes in the power of books to inform, heal, and create community.

Gayle is also fifty-six year survivor of ovarian cancer, she values the blessing of family relationships. Gayle has zip-lined in Costa Rica, paraglided in Peru, hiked to the Sun Gate above the citadel of Machu Picchu, and snow-shoed in Antarctica but parenting proved to be the greatest adventure of her life.

She has collaborated with her daughter, Casey A. Swift (an adoptee, media specialist, teacher, and the  2017 Teacher of the Year for her school ) on two award-winning books: ABC Adoption and Me and We’re Adopted, So What? Teens Tell It Like It Is. Then, with her GIFT Family Services colleague, Sally Ankerfelt, they co-authored Reimagining Adoption: What Adoptees Seek From Families and Faith, an award-winning publication.

Gayle has won six Royal Palm Literary Awards.

More at:

https://gaylehswift.com/

Here's more about Gail's organisation from their website.

At Growing Intentional Families Together, we believe that the decision to adopt a child is yours and yours alone. We know that you have what it takes to discern whether adoption is right for you. Our adoption coaches all are adoptive parents or adoptees. We are here to give you tools, insights, and behind-the-scenes information that will help you feel confident in your decision. If you currently are parenting a child through adoption, Growing Intentional Families Together stands ready to help you navigate the joys and challenges of parenting. Through it all, we are here with skilled support so your adoption journey is as successful and fulfilling as it can be.

https://giftfamilyservices.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GIFTFamilyServices/

https://mobile.twitter.com/aboutadopting

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Check out www.simonbenn.co.uk to book me as a speaker

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Imani Z. Seunarine is Vice President of Behavioral Health and Outpatient Services at The Home for Little Wanderers  

https://www.linkedin.com/in/imani-seunarine-lmhc-1b870630/ Here's some more from their website:  

Here's a bit about The Home from their website:

As the oldest child welfare agency in America, we have maintained our commitment to children since before the Civil War. Because every child deserves happiness, and no child should go through life alone.

Each year, our community-based programs and residences meet the needs of more than 15,000 diverse youngsters and family members. These children are often society’s most vulnerable, victims of trauma, violence or shattered family lives.

We ensure their emotional, social, educational and physical well- being from birth to age 26 through a dedicated team of professionals and a wide range of critical services. As a result, disadvantaged kids have safe surroundings, loving relationships and a secure path toward tomorrow.

Find out more at

https://thehome.org/

https://www.facebook.com/thehomeforlittlewanderers

https://twitter.com/thehomeorg

https://www.instagram.com/thehomeforlittlewanderers/

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Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Joy Alessi is Policy Director of the Adoptee Rights Campaign, a diverse group of intercountry Adoptees and allies striving to educate, organize and advocate for U.S. citizenship.

https://adopteerightscampaign.org/

https://www.facebook.com/citizenshipforalladoptees

https://twitter.com/ARC_citizenship

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMgFx4PefOA0zwce09yRnjA

https://www.instagram.com/adoptee_rights_campaign/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Check me out and get in touch at www.simonbenn.co.uk

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Alex is a single mother through adoption and a nonprofit professional with over 20 years of experience. In 2011, Alex started her journey to become a mother through adoption and finds herself, 10 years after the birth of her daughter, happily sharing her daughter's life with her birth family. Alex believes strongly in the importance of belonging and that radical inclusion is critical to spark societal change. Her professional career has been an effort to include and uplift the less resourced. She currently works at a nonprofit called Let It Be Us that recruits foster parents for waiting children and helps connect the child welfare system to ensure every child is placed in a loving home. She graduated from Williams College and University of Chicago Law School, and lives with her daughter in Chicago, Illinois. She is currently working on a memoir about her experience with open adoption, tentatively titled 'Real Mom', and has created a website, Family Love Redefined, https://www.familyloveredefined.com/ , where she posts resources and other podcasts she's done.

Alex is Deputy Director at  Let It Be Us and has a wealth of experience in nonprofit management and nonprofit legal strategy and operations. As a nonprofit professional with 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, she has experience leading fundraising and operations teams, expanding and managing back-office functions, and overseeing multi-million dollar facility renovations.  Alex earned a bachelor’s degree, cum laude, from Williams College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago.  Alex has been instrumental in the development of the Let It Be Us Parent Recruitment Events. She also has extensive experience with private and state contracts. She is also a mother through adoption with a passion for reimagining how we define family and ensuring all children are in safe, healthy, happy homes. 

Let It Be Us is changing the landscape of foster care and adoption in Illinois through innovative programming.

Find out more at https://letitbeus.org/

https://www.facebook.com/letitbeusorg

https://www.instagram.com/letitbeus

https://twitter.com/letitbeusil

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.

Trisha and Rich work at Lifesong which  seeks to mobilize the Church to care for the orphan, where each member can provide a unique and special service: some to adopt, some to care, some to give. With caring people like you and church partnerships, we support children through global orphan care ministries, Christian adoptive families, and foster care initiatives.

https://lifesong.org

https://www.facebook.com/lifesongfororphans

https://twitter.com/lifesongorphans

https://www.instagram.com/lifesongfororphans/

Guests and the host are not (unless mentioned) licensed pscyho-therapists and speak from their own opinion only. Seek qualified advice if you need help.