Team

The National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support is a partnership composed of the following agencies:

Post-Adoption Director

Melinda Lis, Vice President of the Academy at Spaulding for Children, serves as the Director for the Post-Adoption Center.  Melinda  has worked in child welfare over the past 30 years in both public and private child welfare agencies and Universities. Since 2013, Melinda has worked at Spaulding for Children. During this time she has helped to implement and direct numerous national initiatives. Melinda received her Master Degree from the University of Chicago and her Bachelor Degree from the University of Alabama. She is the recipient of the 2020 National Adoption Excellence Award. Melinda and her husband were licensed foster parents in Illinois and have adopted three children.

Program Director

DaJari Patterson serves as the Post-Adoption Center Resource Library Program Director. Ms. Patterson has over 25 years of experience working in child welfare in both the public and private sectors. She has expertise in the fields of adoption, foster care, kinship care, and resource development. She served at both the county and State levels with Georgia’s Department of Family and Children Services. Ms. Patterson holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Clark Atlanta University and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School.

Lead Site Technical Advisor

Faith Lee has over 26 years of professional experience in child welfare and human services. Most recently, she served as a Child & Family Program Specialist for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Children’s Bureau, where she monitored federal reporting for child welfare services for the state of Kentucky. Additionally, Ms. Lee supported and assisted the additional states within Region 4 as needed.  

Ms. Lee has applied her child welfare expertise in consultant roles as working in leadership roles in both South and North Carolina child welfare systems. Ms. Lee’s local social services experience in North and South Carolina spans intake, child protective services, in-home services, foster care, adoptions, and foster care supervision.  

She holds an MSHS from Capella University in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and an MA from Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri. 

Evaluation Lead

Sharon Vandivere is a senior research scientist in the child welfare program area at Child Trends, where she has carried out research and evaluation for 25 years. She serves as the evaluation lead for the Post-Adoption Center. She is a subject matter expert in child welfare and a methodological expert in the use and analysis of administrative, survey, and other quantitative data. Sharon and her husband were licensed foster parents in Maryland. They have one child through private domestic adoption and also adopted two of their former foster children.

Post-Adoption Program Specialist

Allison Cooke Douglas, M.S., IECMH-E®, is the Resource Center Director at Harmony Family Center in Knoxville, TN. She serves as a post-permanency expert at the National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support. Over the past decade, Allison’s work has focused on post-permanency family support.  She has written and presented curricula regarding therapeutic parenting, the impact of early trauma on the developing brain, and best practices in the child welfare system. In her work with Tennessee’s Adoption Support and Preservation (ASAP) program, Allison has coached adoptive families, facilitated parent support groups, designed therapeutic children’s programming, and provided consultation as a part of Harmony’s multidisciplinary ASAP team.   Allison holds an Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Endorsement, is certified in Phases I and II of The Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and is a Neurosequential Model in Education trainer. She is a Napa Infant-Parent & Early Childhood Mental Health Fellowship fellow and was selected for the 2022-23 All Educators cohort at The Fred Rogers Institute. Allison brings her lived experience as an adoptive mother of four children, adopted via foster care, to her work at the Center.

Specialist in TBRI®

Michelle is a Program Director at Raise the Future and has direct experience with statewide implementation of various policies and initiatives, as well as expertise on how TBRI ® (Trust Based Relational Intervention) can strengthen post-adoption services. Prior to joining Raise the Future, Michelle worked as the Permanency Administrator for the State of Kansas Department for Children and Families. In this role, she provided oversight and guidance to 18+ different agencies who provide foster care services in Kansas’ privatized system. Michelle is an experienced trainer, who has instructed parents, caregivers and the workforce in various curricula, including TBRI®, pre-service for foster/adoptive families and various adoption competency courses for those providing direct service. Michelle started her career social work 10 years ago providing an array of pre- and post-placement services for adoptive families.

C.A.S.E. Team Lead

Laura is the Director of the Academy for Advancing Clinical Practice in Permanency at the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) and is the C.A.S.E. team lead for the Post-Adoption Center.

A graduate of the University of Southern California (USC), Laura is a licensed clinical social worker, and has been working in foster care and adoption for 30 years. After a decade of child placement work in Los Angeles, Laura was inspired to support families post placement/on their lifelong journeys and has started up numerous adoption/permanency specialty programs focused on relationally based healing throughout California. With a deep background serving diverse family systems, Laura is a nationally respected trainer and writer, contributing to numerous parenting and professional curricula including the NTDC, NTI and TAC.

National Director of Community Engagement

Michelle D Seymore, National Director of Community Engagement at NAA, is the Director of dissemination and partnership for the Post-Adoption Center. Michelle received a master’s degree in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Metropolitan State University. She has worked in state and county level child welfare agencies for over 20 years.  As a public servant, Michelle has focused on creating better outcomes for families experiencing the child welfare system and reducing disparities. Michelle is an alumnus of the MPLD Fellowship and joined NAA in 2023. 

National Manager of Community Engagement 

Ashley Aguy is the National Manager of Community Engagement for the NAA and the Post Adoption Center, bringing over a decade of expertise in child welfare and community leadership. As a dedicated social worker, she advocates for vulnerable populations, particularly children and families in the child welfare system. Ashley’s experience includes roles in Child Protection Intake, Investigations, and Foster Care Social Work. Prior to her current role, she developed curriculum and taught at the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work, shaping the next generation of social workers. 

In addition to her child welfare work, Ashley is an intercultural expert and a Qualified Administrator for the Intercultural Development Inventory® (IDI), helping people foster inclusion and belonging. Her community leadership includes service on the Ramsey County African American Family Preservation Act Workgroup and the Minnesota DHS African American Child Wellbeing Council. Ashley holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Minnesota and a Bachelor of Science in Counseling Psychology from Oakwood University. Guided by the belief that “No one cares about what you know until they know that you care,” Ashley is committed to creating meaningful change and building connections that make a difference. 

Post-Adoption Program Specialist

Dr. Bush is a Post Adoption Program Specialist for the Center of Adoption Support and Training Services in MD, working with the National Center for Enhanced Post Adoption Support. She is a consultant to the Texas Christian University Karyn Purvis Institute for Child Development, serves on the Attachment and Trauma Fellowship and Certification Program Advisory Council, and is a professional member of the Illinois DCFS Adoption Advisory Council. Dr. Bush co-authored START 24/7, used in Illinois and Michigan post-permanency support programs; a holistic program for providing assessment and therapeutic services for foster and adoptive families raising children with trauma. Dr. Bush co-authored Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®) for Adopted Children Receiving Therapy in an Outpatient Setting. Dr. Bush is a trainer of therapists in integrative therapies, Reflective Supervision, Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI), Mindfulness, Understanding Trauma, Creating a Trauma-Informed School Environment. Dr. Bush has a Master’s degree in counseling from Bradley University and a doctoral degree from Chicago School of Professional Psychology: International Psychology: Trauma -Services track. She has been working in child welfare with children with trauma and attachment issues since 1994.

Post-Permenancy Strategic Advisor

Kimberly Bonham is the Post-Permanency Strategic Advisor at Raise the Future serving within the National Center for Enhanced Post–Adoption Support. As a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and a licensed clinical social worker with over 30 years of experience in private, public, and national child welfare, Kimberly has extensive experience supporting permanency for children and youth. She has been recognized throughout her career for delivering quality customer service, developing permanency preparedness tools for foster, kinship, and adoptive families, and facilitating professional trainings to improve permanency outcomes. Kimberly is a graduate of AdoptUSKids’ MPLD program where she completed an action research project focused on youth engagement and adoption ambivalence. Most recently, Kimberly worked in capacity building and engagement, and knowledge dissemination positions for AdoptUSKids’ projects and as an adoption search and reunion contractor within the state of Virginia. She is deeply passionate about the well-being and support of children and their families joined together through adoption and guardianship.    

Post-Adoption Program Specialist

Sinead Love serves as a Post-Adoption Program Specialist with the National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support. She has been a dedicated leader and therapist at Harmony Family Center since 2018, driving impactful initiatives that serve children and families. In her role as Team Leader, she has provided strategic supervision and administrative oversight, ensuring the delivery of high-quality services. As a Family Therapist, she has specialized in supporting adoptive and guardianship families, and as a Parent Educator, she has effectively implemented the AGPT curriculum. Sinead also leads the coordination of Therapeutic Day Camps and Rainbow Camp programs at Camp Montvale, fostering healing and growth for participants. 

A highly trained professional, Sinead has expertise in evidence-based therapeutic modalities, including SMART, NMT Phase 1, EMDR, and play therapy. Her diverse experience spans school, community, and juvenile justice settings. She holds dual master’s degrees in clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling from UTK, along with a certificate in Grief, Trauma, and Loss. Additionally, her lived experience as a therapeutic foster parent brings invaluable insight to her practice, further enhancing her ability to lead and serve with empathy and expertise.