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ADDRESS:
1750 South Brentwood Blvd., Suite 210
Saint Louis, Missouri 63144
PHONE:
314.FOSTER.3 (314.367.8373)
800.FOSTER.3 (800.367.8373)
FAX:
314.241.0715
WEBSITE:
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The Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition is a non-profit agency that strives to create permanency in foster children’s lives by recruiting and retaining foster/adoptive families.
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| Coalition Staff
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| Melanie Scheetz - Executive Director
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2221
Melanie Scheetz and her husband are proud adoptive parents of two children, ages 15 and 13. Melanie has more than 22 years non-profit management experience in the areas of administration and development. She joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition as its Executive Director in 1999. During the past 11 years, the Coalition has recruited more than 1,150 new foster/adoptive families, and found adoptive homes for more than 300 hard-to-place children. Under her guidance, the agency developed the groundbreaking program, Extreme Recruitment.
Melanie has been honored with the North American Council on Adoptable Children’s 2006 “National Adoption Advocate” award; the 2007 Congressional “Angels in Adoption” award; and the 2008 “Women of the Well” award. She has a B.S. from Miami University.
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| Dawn Belizaire - Director of Major Gifts
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2234
c 314.973.9229
Dawn joined the Coalition in September of 2009 as the Director of Major Gifts. Most recently, she was the Director of Development for CASA of St. Louis County, and she has worked in development at the Make-A-Wish Foundation® and marketing and development at Lydia’s House in St. Louis and the Fort Bend County Women’s Center in Houston, TX. Her time at these organizations provided experience working with donors, volunteers, and Board members on a variety of tasks, including major gift solicitation, campaign planning and coordination, special events, grant writing and research, marketing, and print and web graphic design and production. Dawn completed her Bachelor’s degree in International Communications at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX, and her Master’s degree in Global Marketing Communications at Emerson College in Boston, MA. She is active in the community, serving as an active member of the St. Louis Alumnae Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta and a past Board member of the Junior League of St. Louis. She and her husband, Roger, have lived in St. Louis since 2004.
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| Jessi Brawley - Dev. & Community Relations Manager
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2236
e jessibrawley@foster-adopt.org
Jessi Brawley joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in June 2010. At the Coalition, she works in a variety of development areas including writing and producing newsletters & appeals, website support, media relations, social media management, special events, and graphic design. In addition, Jessi coordinates “A Place to Call Home.” In partnership with St. Louis’ NBC affiliate KSDK NewsChannel 5, over 55% of the hardest to place children who have been featured on this Emmy winning program have found forever families. Jessi graduated from Maryville University in 2007 with a Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Sociology. Prior to joining the Coalition, she was the Development and Communications Associate at CASA of St. Louis County. Jessi resides in St. Louis, where she grew up.
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| Erica R. Brooks - Crisis Intervention Specialist
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2253
c 314.452.4283
e ericabrooks@foster-adopt.org
Erica R. Brooks, a Provisionally Licensed Professional Counselor, joined the Coalition as a Crisis Intervention Specialist in January, 2012. She has spent the past 17 years proudly and passionately serving children and families involved in the adoption and the foster care system. Erica’s work history includes residential treatment, community mental health services, foster care case management, and resource family development. She earned a Bachelor’s of Art in Psychology from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. After a ten year hiatus, she returned to school to pursue a Master’s of Education in Community Counseling from the University of Missouri – St. Louis to follow her aspiration to assist in healing hurting children and families.
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| Joshua Fantroy - Crisis Intervention Specialist
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2239
c 314.452.4101
e JoshuaFantroy@foster-adopt.org
Joshua joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in August 2010. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Saint Louis University in 2008. For the past two years, Joshua has been working in the child abuse and neglect unit of Children’s Division for the City of Saint Louis. As a Family Intervention Specialist, Joshua is responsible for helping pre-adoptive and adoptive families during crisis situations. Joshua works closely with pre-adoptive and adoptive families for periods of 4 to 6 weeks, seeing them through the crisis situations. Joshua has six adopted siblings and is passionate about the work he is doing for area children.
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| Gayle Flavin - Extreme Recruiter
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2228
c 314.614.2419
Gayle joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition to pursue her dream of helping children in foster care find permanency. After graduating from the Social Work department at University of Missouri-Columbia, she decided to come home to St. Louis to obtain a Master of Social Work degree from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. During her graduate program, Gayle completed a practicum with the Coalition. Gayle returned to the Coalition in 2009 to work in the Extreme Recruitment program. As an Extreme Recruiter, Gayle helps children in foster care reconnect with their biological family and pursues all avenues to ensure permanency.
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| Jen Frey - Director - [RE]FRESH
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 c 314.660.6646
e jenfrey@foster-adopt.org Jen comes to the Coalition with an extensive seven year retail background with Express, Inc. Her previous job travels and responsibilities have led her to work with eight different store teams in three different states including a holiday season on, fashion famous, Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Jen has a Bachelor's Degree in Fashion Merchandising from Southeast Missouri State and a Masters Degree in Management from Fontbonne University. As Director of reFresh, the Coalition’s new retail center, Jen will coordinate and manage store operations, provide on-the-job training for volunteer foster youth, organize clothing drives, and standardize operational initiatives. The ultimate goal of these programs is to broaden the potential career path of youth in the St. Louis Area.
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| Debbie Genung - Director of Development
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2238
e debbiegenung@foster-adopt.org
Debbie joined the Coalition in early 2006 with six years of professional development experience and decades of volunteer fundraising. She is the staff liaison for the Junior Board (launched in 2006), and is responsible for grant writing and reporting, special events, individual, foundation, and corporate giving, Annual Appeal, and Fostering Hope (newsletter for donors and volunteers.) Debbie is the proud mother of four children and two “adopted” Spanish sons – brothers who lived with the Genung family the year they were each 12 years old.
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| Edna Green - Extreme Recruiter
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2247
c 314.614.2413
Edna joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in August of 2011 as an Extreme Recruiter. Beginning in the late 1980's, she began her work with families at St. Joseph's Home for Boys as a Child Care Worker (CCW). She has worked in the capacity as a Contacted Case Manager, Family Focus Case Manager, Family Advocate, briefly contracted with Probation & Parole as a case manager, mentor, and residential case manager. Her previous work experiences has prepared her for her position as an Extreme Recruiter in that she is more able to go into the field and actively advocate and recruit for children in foster care - building stronger relationships with families, and providing permanency for children.
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| Liz Johnson - Wendy's Wonderful Kids Recruiter
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x31
c 314.614.2428
As a Wendy's Wonderful Kids recruiter, Liz finds adoptive families for children who are typically more difficult to place...older children, teens and sibling groups. She conducts intensive, child specific searches to recruit appropriate families, and work with the families to prepare them for a child's placement with them. Liz establishes a trusting working relationship with the child to determine his or her adoptive needs, find the best match, and prepare him/her for adoption working closely with other members of the child's team.
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| Barbara Kane - Director of Program Outcomes
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2226
Barbara is a graduate of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Barbara has been with the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition since January 2007 when she began her practicum education. She stayed with the Coalition after earning her MSW in 2008 in the new role of Outcomes Specialist. Barbara is now the Director of Program Outcomes and in her role, she is in charge of developing and tracking program outcomes to ensure the Coalition is able to fulfill its mission of creating permanency in foster children’s lives by recruiting and retaining foster/adoptive families. Barabara also administers the Little Wishes program.
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| Denise Kelley - Director of Programs
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2225
In 2001, the Coalition expanded services to foster and adoptive families through its Family Advocacy program. Since that time Denise has used a self-advocacy model to provide one-on-one case based advocacy to foster parents, adoptive parents, relative caregivers, biological parents, and child welfare professionals. Typical inquiries include assistance in navigating the child welfare system, policy/procedure clarifications, and finding community resources. Denise also coordinates the Coalition's foster and adoptive parent training enrollment for Missouri residence living in the Metro Area. Denise, in partnership with other Coaliton staff, work closely with MO Children’s Division and its private agency partners to stay current on specific child placement needs, the licensing process for foster and adoptive families, and supportive services for foster and adoptive families.
Prior to joining the Coalition team, Denise worked in the child welfare field providing crisis intervention services through the Intensive In-Home Services program and later as a foster care case manger. Denise holds a Masters in Social Work from Saint Louis University.
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| Carlos Lopez - Director of Investigations
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2240
c 314.614.2416
After serving 20 years in the St. Louis Police Department, Carlos Lopez joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition as the organization's first Family Connections Investigator. While with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, Carlos served as a patrol officer (11-years) and as a Juvenile Detective (9-years). While a Juvenile Detective, Carlos worked one on one with at risk youth specifically regarding gang prevention, detection and intervention. He was also a part of the Truancy Initiative, which was a highly successful multi-agency program decreasing truancy in the St. Louis area. Carlos' investigation skills combined with his experience in serving children and families has helped facilitate successful reconnections of foster children with birth family.
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| Dawn Milburn - Director of Crisis Intervention
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2241
c 314.614.2342
Dawn, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) and member of the American Counseling Association, has spent her career in social service supporting people of all ages and all abilities. Dawn values her own family and friend connections and believes that all people's lives are enriched by building and developing personal relationships and a circle of support. She also values individuality and firmly believes that in order to build a genuine and successful rapport with the individuals she supports is to "meet them where they are". Dawn has a diverse background of experience working with children and adults in the community and within a treatment setting. She has a B.S. in Therapeutic Recreation and a M.Ed. in Community Counseling and at this time she is furthering her education through Portland State University's Certificate in Foster and Adoption Therapy program.
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| Russell Smith - Special Investigator
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2224
Russell Smith is the Coalition’s second investigator. Russell served for 30 years with the St. Louis Police Department and retired as a Lieutenant. During his long career, Russell served as an investigator in the Departments’ Sex Crime Section, Fugitive Unit and Internal Affairs Division. During the last years of his career, Russell also was one of the Police Departments’ Scene Commanders of the Hostage Unit (S.W.A.T) and during his tenure in this position he successfully directed many intense incidents. Russell brings to the Coalition a wealth of investigative and communication skills, a vast knowledge of the St. Louis community and a close working relationship with the various law enforcement agencies - all of which has proven to be extremely valuable in reconnecting foster children with their birth family.
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| Nickie Steinhoff - Director of Training & Support
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2235
Nickie Steinhoff joined the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition as the Director of Training & Community Support in December 2009. She brings more than 10 years of experience in child welfare, including case assessment and management, crisis intervention and permanency planning. Most recently, she was the Director of Advocacy Services at CASA of St. Louis County, where she lead advocacy efforts, volunteer training and supervision, and program development. She has provided child advocacy training to national audiences, and served on the National CASA volunteer curriculum development committee. Nickie has a Bachelor’s degree in social work and a Master’s degree in professional counseling and is currently an adjunct professor of sociology at Fontbonne University. Nickie and her husband are the proud parents of two children, one of whom is adopted.
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| Delbrica Vinson - Dir. of Educational Advocacy in St. Louis City
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144 o 314.367.8373 x2243
c 314.600.0305
Dell Vinson joined the Coalition in August 2009 as the second Education Advocate. Prior to joining our team, for the past five years, Dell served as a Special Education Teacher within the public schools system of St. Louis City. Dell's motto is: "A teacher must understand who they are in order to assist students on becoming who they need to be.” Dell also worked as a Children's Division Family Centered Out of Home Care Social Service Worker reuniting foster children and families to strong and realistic permanency plans. Dell's combined social service and education background makes her a strong advocatre to assist with all related educational needs and concerns. Dell has a B.S. in Sociology from SIU Edwardsville, and a Masters of Art and Teaching in Special Education from Webster University. Dell recently completed an ED.S. in Administration.
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| Cindy Ysaguirre - KidStore Manager
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Tyler Presbyterian 2109 South Spring Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63110
o 314.773.KIDS (314.773.5437)
Cindy, a proud mother of two and a a grandmother of four, is a part-time employee responsible for managing the daily operations and volunteer staff of the KidStore. She also performs internal audits for the Little Wishes program.
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| Trish Taddeucci - Educational Specialist
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1750 South Brentwood Boulevard, Suite 210, Saint Louis, MO 63144
o 314.367.8373 x2232
c 314.614.2420
e triciataddeucci@foster-adopt.org
Trish joined the coalition this past September as an Educational Specialist working with our Crisis Intervention Team. With over 15 years of diverse teaching experience in the St. Louis area in both public and private schools, Trish has a rich understanding of the complexities of school operations and students’ needs. Trish graduated from The University of Tulsa with a BA, and she completed a Masters in Educational Administration at UMSL. It was Trish’s last three years of professional experience, however, that drew her to the coalition. As a classroom teacher with The Division of Youth Services working with incarcerated youth, she witnessed fist hand the profound difference a love of learning can have on a young person’s life path. She is committed to supporting our families and schools in developing a caring, personalized approach to education to instill a love of learning in all of our children.
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