Boise Staff

Personal Profile

Adoption has been a part of my life from a young age.  I grew up in a family with two siblings, one biological and one adopted.  My first and best childhood friend was adopted with her sister from Korea.  In college my Aunt faced an unplanned pregnancy.   She selflessly made a plan for adoption.  Through these experiences, I have seen personally both the joy and sadness produced by the same adoption story.  Two years ago, my sister and brother-in-law made a journey to China, bringing home their beautiful daughter through the miracle of adoption.  Needless to say I am overjoyed to be working in a field that has brought so much joy into my life.

In addition to providing me the incredible privilege and honor of walking with families as they build their families through adoption; working as Adoption Specialist allows me to be at home with my children most of the time.  My husband John and I are the proud and happy parents of three incredible girls, my 17 year old step-daughter, and our 6 year old daughter and almost 3 year old daughter.  We enjoy spending time with them camping, visiting with extended family and friends, and watching our beloved BSU Broncos - Go Broncos!

Professional Background

I graduated from Boise State University in 1994 with a Bachelors degree in Psychology. I worked in two non-profit organizations for persons with disabilities and mental illness for over 10 years. I developed a deep understanding and appreciation for the importance of non-profit organizations in our community and the value of having a job for which you are passionate. I resigned my former position in 2003 to be a stay-at-home mother to our daughters for five years. When I began to consider returning to work part-time, I was happy to find out that persons with degrees in Psychology can work as Adoption Specialists. Imagine my surprise when I learned the very same adoption agency that produced my sister and brother-in-law’s home study was hiring. That was in 2008, I have been here ever since. In the field of adoption, I have found a new outlet for my passion and enthusiasm! Through my employment at A New Beginning Adoption Agency, I am truly blessed to be associated with such a community minded, humanitarian organization.

Personal Profile

I was raised in Burley, Idaho and moved to Jerome, Idaho when I was a sophomore in High School. I spent one year at the College of Southern Idaho and then moved to Boise where I graduated from BSU with a degree in Social Work. I began working as an Employment Specialist in Caldwell, Idaho helping the disabled population find employment. During my employment there, I married and had two children. I love to travel and have always been fascinated with the ocean. My dream job would be to work at Sea World. The funny thing is… I do not like swimming! I enjoy the thought of reading a good book and finishing it in one day, snuggled up on the couch with a blanket, diet soda, and hot tamales.

Professional Background

I love adoption and enjoy meeting the nicest people and working in a position that is so rewarding. I love to support and assist birth parents through the adoption process and know that in the grief and doubt, someone else’s life will be blessed and changed forever!!

Personal Profile

Adoption has been a part of my life since I was 2 years old when my stepmother adopted me and made me her daughter.  This was never a secret from me and it was part of who I was and who I am today.  I believe it is because of this positive life long experience with adoption, that I was able to effectively deal with my own infertility issues and be so accepting of the idea of adoption.

When  I was 39 years old I met the love of my life, Chuck.  With him he brought 5 of the most amazing children into my life, Ashley, Davey, Nate, Mikey and Spencer.  I had such a great time getting to know them and arranging my life from independent single woman to wife and step mother.  There have been wonderful times and times that have been messy as well as confusing and upsetting, but I love them with all of my heart and treasure the relationships I have with each of them.

After chuck and I had been married for 2 years we were introduced to a beautiful girl, Abigail.  After meeting her on a couple of occasions and spending time with her caregivers with the plan of adoption, we were told the caregivers had decided to go another way and she would not be coming to live in our family.  The heartbreak was something I had never experienced in my life, but as we do, my husband and I picked up and tried to move on with our lives.  Over the next several months we tried to forget about little Abigail, but we talked of her often and missed her even though she hadn’t been a part of our daily lives.

On October 15, 2005, Chuck received a call from the caregivers asking if we were still interested in adopting Abigail as they couldn’t find a family they liked more than us.  We were thrilled.  It had been  6 months since we had first met her and we were anxious to make her a part of our family.  On October 27, 2005 she was placed in our home and on December 15, 2006 the adoption was final and she became our daughter forever .  Abigail loves to tell us she will live with us forever and ever and ever.  I am trying to convince her she will live with us even after she is married and has her own children.  Right now she thinks that is a good idea, but I am sure that will change.   It has been a joy to watch Abigail develop and grow as she develops confidence and many new abilities and skills.  It has also been  fun watching our children fall in love with her, teach her, play with her and include them in their lives.  Abigail thinks her brothers and sister are the best.  Being a wife and parent has changed my life in ways I never imagined it could be changed.  I have learned about raising pigs with my boys, I have been to the zoo, discovery center, libraries, had spit wads placed in my hands, bugs in my freezer for the bug collection at school and had many wonderful experiences watching the children grow and develop.  Right now my life is filled with love, tears, laughter and joy, just the way I always dreamed it would be.

Professional Background

In my first year of college, I knew I wanted a job helping children, but I didn’t know the best way to do that.  So like any college freshman, I took many introductory classes trying to find the right field of study.  Everything felt wrong and difficult until my intro to social work class.  In that class, I found thought process, ways of helping and peers I enjoyed talking with.  I had found my career.

As I learned, I knew there were two places I never wanted to work.  First, I never wanted to work as a state social worker and I never wanted to work for LDS Family Services.  As life would have it, I have worked for both the state and LDS Family services.  Both positions have prepared me to work in an area I really love and that is in adoption.  I have had the opportunity to work with adoption since 1997, first with LDS Family Service, then as a Certified Adoption Professional and nor with A New Beginning Adoption Agency.   I have a lot of different experience in adoption as I have worked with birth parents, birth grandparents, adoptive couples and adoption agencies as well as going through my own adoption experiences.  I feel uniquely qualified to work in this area and look forward to working with you through our adoption journey.

Personal Profile

I was born and raised in Southern California. My first two years of college were spent in Seattle, and it was through a ministry outreach over spring break to a children’s home in Nampa that I eventually landed here in Idaho. (I must confess that, before then, I only associated Idaho with potatoes.) I have grown to truly love Idaho and consider this “home.”

I am blessed to have one daughter, who recently graduated from high school. Being an adoptive parent has been both my greatest joy and challenge! I am also blessed to have maintained relationships with several other children I have cared for over the years, one of whom lives with us. We have two dogs and two guinea pigs. I have never been married, but hope to find the right mate and parent more children. Some of my interests include singing, dancing, rollerblading along the greenbelt, reading, animals, camping, swimming, crafts/scrapbooking, card/board games, and traveling.

Professional Background

I graduated from Azusa Pacific University in California with degrees in Music Education and Psychology. For nearly ten years, I worked for a long-term residential care facility for children as a direct care staff member and supervisor and also taught music at the on-site school. The children I worked with struggled with developmental disability and mental health issues. Many of those children were adoptees, international and domestic, and their adoptions were not successful. I believe that one major reason for this is that the adopting families did not receive strong education about issues they might face and were therefore unprepared to deal with the challenges that came their way, especially in regards to attachment.

I wanted to do more to help meet the needs of struggling families and children and preserve the family unit. I obtained my Master’s degree in Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University in 2006. It was my initial ambition to create a local treatment center to help families and children dealing with attachment issues, similar to a few attachment centers which exist in other parts of the country. However, I put that dream on hold because my daughter and I moved to California to help care for my parents. I obtained a position working with the chronically homeless population in downtown Los Angeles, which I enjoyed but was not my passion …and the commute was terrible! As it happened, more family health issues ensued and I was unable to remain in that position. When it came time to look for a new position, a local adoption agency was considering hiring an additional social worker. For some reason, I had never really considered working in adoptions, even though adoption had been part of my life in various ways for quite some time. It then occurred to me that an adoption agency is the perfect setting to work from a preventative angle by educating adopting families well and serving as a strong, long-term supportive resource after placement/finalization. I enjoyed working for that agency in California until we returned to Idaho at the end of 2008, which was when I connected up with A New Beginning. What drew me to A New Beginning specifically is their similar vision for preparing adoptive families well and providing good support for both birthparents and adoptive families. I look forward to continuing to be a part of the expansion of this vision and the services A New Beginning offers!