One of Barker’s most distinguishing assets is our well-trained and experienced professional and administrative staff. Our staff includes persons who, in addition to their professional credentials, are also themselves birthparents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons.

Continuing in the tradition begun by Ruth and Richard Barker, our staff also provides consultation services and in-service training for teachers, physicians, nurses, social workers, and parent groups in the community.

Executive Director
 

Marilyn C. Regier, Ph.D., LCSW-C, LISW
BS, Valparaiso University; MSW, Indiana University Graduate School of Social Services; Ph.D., The Florence Heller School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare, Brandeis University

Dr. Regier heads The Barker Foundation, one of the leading and oldest comprehensive adoption organizations in the US. She has been responsible for developing major international programs, a signature post-adoption counseling and workshop initiative, and founding Project Wait No Longer that responds to a national need for adoption of older foster care children. She has spent the past two decades directing and leading innovative work in every facet of comprehensive child welfare national and global adoption processes. She has over 30 years experience in the social work field, including extensive experience in both international and domestic adoption, and is herself an adoptive parent. Much of her clinical experience focused on adolescents, and she has also conducted research in the area of social policy and alcohol. Prior to her appointment at Barker, she directed international adoption programs in seven countries in Asia and Eastern Europe, and began a domestic program that included strong outreach to the African-American community. A frequent conference speaker and writer in the adoption and child-welfare field, Dr. Regier has also served as a spokesperson for positive adoption education on radio and television. Dr. Regier is a Past President of the Maryland Coalition for Adoption, a consortium of the State's licensed private adoption agencies. (mregier@barkerfoundation.org)

DIRECTORS
 

Linda Adams
Director, Finance & Administration
BS, San Francisco State University

Linda Adams joined the Barker staff in 2004 and has over 20 years of accounting and management experience in both the corporate and the non-profit sectors. In her role as Director of Finance and Administration, Linda works closely with the Executive Director and with the Board of Trustees. She also manages the administrative components of key agency events, such as the Annual Conference and the Annual Phonathon, and oversees human resources for Barker. (ladams@barkerfoundation.org)

Beverly N. Clarke, LCSW-C, LICSW
Director, Project Wait No Longer, Older Child Adoptions
BSW, Andrews University; MSW, Andrews University

Ms. Clarke is the Director of Project Wait No Longer: Permanency for Foster Youth, a Barker initiative that seeks to find permanent homes for children currently in the public foster care system. She is responsible for the Project's overall administration, including recruitment, training, outreach and matching.

Ms. Clarke comes to Barker with 13 years of experience as a social worker and clinician, with many of those years focusing on children and families. Ms. Clarke's past experience includes work with the foster care system, family preservation programs as well as domestic and international adoption work.  As an adoptive parent herself, she brings both a personal and professional understanding of the adoption process as well as a passion for achieving permanency for at-risk children.  (bclarke@barkerfoundation.org)

Sandra Fulton, MSW, LCSW-C
Director, Domestic Programs
BSW, George Mason University; MSW, Virginia Commonwealth University

Ms. Fulton administers all aspects of The Barker Foundation’s Domestic Programs, including the Comprehensive and Individual Services Programs, minority outreach, and foster care. Prior to accepting this position, Ms. Fulton worked as a consultant for Barker, facilitating Pre-adoption Groups, and completing home studies for both domestic and international families. Her past experience includes serving as the Director of Birth Parent Services for another private adoption agency, as well as direct clinical work as a birth parent counselor. Ms. Fulton first began her social work career in the public sector, working for a local social service agency with child protective services, foster care, and family services.
(sfulton@barkerfoundation.org) 

Sue Hollar, LCSW-C, LICSW 
Director of Professional Service, Korean Adoption Program Coordinator 
BS, Lenoir-Rhyne University; MSW, Syracuse University

Ms. Hollar is The Barker Foundation’s Director of Professional Services and its Korean Adoption Program Coordinator.  She is responsible for providing leadership to the agency’s social work staff and for the overall administration of the Korea Program.  Her experience includes close to twenty years of child welfare and adoption work locally, nationally and internationally. She previously directed foster care, treatment foster care and independent living programs; managed federal reviews of state child welfare systems; and developed and conducted training for foster care and adoption staff throughout the country. (shollar@barkerfoundation.org)

Tina Ji, LLM
Director, International Programs
LLB, Peking University, China; LLM, University of Virginia School of Law, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Ms. Ji currently oversees all of Barker’s international programs. She has worked in the adoption field since 1992, first with Children’s Hope International in St. Louis, and for the next ten years with Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA). Ms. Ji has extensive experience supervising adoption programs in Asia, Latin America and East Europe. She also developed humanitarian programs in China. In 2001 she started a foster care program in China which currently trains foster parents to care for over 100 children in non-institutional settings. She has also led efforts to help many orphanages improve conditions for the children, including provision of medical care. She is active with Joint Council on International Children’s Services and has also been substantially involved in the Hague Treaty and compliance issues for U.S. agencies. (tji@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Abbe Levine, LCSW-C
Director of Family & Post-Adoption Services
B.S., Cornell University; MSW, Rutgers University 

Ms. Levine heads the Department of Family and Post-Adoption Services. In this capacity she provides ongoing consultation and support to adoptive and birth families, she coordinates support groups and skill-building educational programs for all members of the adoption triad in both domestic and international programs, and also facilitates the Colombia Homeland Tour. She acts as Barker’s confidential intermediary, serving as a link between adoptive and birth families, and assisting adult adopted persons who seek non-identifying information about their birth families, or who undertake court-ordered searches. 

Ms. Levine comes to Barker with 25 years of experience as a social worker and clinician, focusing on children and families. For the past 15 years, Ms. Levine has worked with pre-adoptive families, providing services and pre-adoption education to those adopting internationally. In addition, she has provided counseling and educational groups to adopted persons and adoptive families at all stages of the life cycle. (alevine@barkerfoundation.org) 
 

Mary Reyner
Director of Development 
BA, Education – University of Maryland; M.S., Public Relations/Marketing – Kogod School of Business, American University  

Ms. Reyner coordinates Barker’s fundraising efforts, including annual appeals, major gifts campaigns, special events, and planned giving, as well as assists with public relations and writing and editing functions. She comes to The Barker Foundation with more than 20 years of non-profit fundraising experience; most recently she was Development Director for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic of Metropolitan Washington. She is the mother of two children by adoption. (mreyner@barkerfoundation.org) 

STAFF
 

Meg Dawson, MSW, LGSW
Birth Parent Counselor
Post Adoption Social Worker
BA, College of the Ozarks; MSW, University of Maryland

Ms. Dawson counsels birth parents and their families when they are considering adoption. After the adoption, she continues to provide counseling and support to both birth parents and adoptive families. Ms. Dawson also serves in the Department of Family and Post-Adoption Services by helping to provide ongoing support services to adoptive and birth families. Her prior experience includes child development education and counseling to at-risk Latino families and teenage mothers through the Early Head Start Program, as well as mental health work with at-risk Latino students in several local elementary schools. (mdawson@barkerfoundation.org) 

Carolina Kenrick
International Program Coordinator
Nursing Degree, Universidad de Chile

A native Chilean educated as a nurse in Santiago, Ms. Kenrick worked in clinics and in the community, caring for families and children living in impoverished areas. In 1978, she immigrated to the U.S. She joined the American Adoption Agency in 1985, which merged with Barker in 1998. For the past 17 years, Carolina has worked continuously in the area of international adoption. At Barker, she coordinates all programs from overseas, as well as works with Spanish-speaking families from the U.S. and abroad. (ckenrick@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Beth Kirby
Executive Assistant
Foster Care Coordinator
AA, General Education, Montgomery College

Ms. Kirby serves as Executive Assistant to the Executive Director and in this capacity works closely with the Board of Trustees. She also coordinates Barker’s Foster Care program and oversees the recruitment, training, and support of the dedicated families who become part of this vital component in the Domestic programs. Since 1997, she has served in the Coordinator capacity and in 2004 was awarded The Richard B. Barker Award in recognition of her remarkable work with foster care. Ms. Kirby and her husband served as Barker foster parents for 10 years before she assumed the coordinator position. Her prior background includes work with young children in school and daycare programs (bkirby@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Jackie Kinkaid
International Program Assistant
B.A., International Relations, The American University

Jackie Kinkaid joined The Barker Foundation staff in July 2009. During her years at The American University, Jackie not only interned with The Barker Foundation but also in a Congressional office in the District of Columbia. In her role as the International Program Assistant, she works closely with adoptive families throughout their adoption process. Jackie assists in facilitating adoptions from China, Colombia, Ethiopia, India, Nepal, and other countries. (jkinkaid@barkerfoundation.org)

Kathie Lehner
International Program Assistant

Kathie Lehner joined the Barker Foundation in July 2008. In her role as Korea Program Assistant, she works closely with families in the Korea program offering support and assistance in each step of the adoption process, from home study through finalization. Kathie also provides administrative support to the Director of Family & Post-Adoption Services. (klehner@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Amanda Martin
Domestic Program Assistant
BS, Family and Community Services, East Carolina University

Amanda Martin joined The Barker Foundation staff in 2006. In her role as Domestic Program Assistant, she works with families throughout the home study, post-placement, and court finalization process, offering support and assistance at each step in the process. (amartin@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Lakia Murphy, MSW
Pregnancy Counselor
BS, Xavier University, New Orleans, LA; MSW, Clark University, Atlanta, GA 

Ms. Murphy counsels and supports women and men who are facing unplanned pregnancies, as well as with their extended families.  She also provides post-partum counseling and support to both birth parents and adoptive families.  Her past experience includes work with an adoption agency in Atlanta, as well as experience working in a transitional homeless shelter in Atlanta. (lmurphy@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Eliza C. Niemann, LCSW-C, LICSW
Senior Advisor to the Executive Director
BA, University of Virginia; MSW, The National Catholic School of Social Work.

Ms. Niemann offers consultation and assistance on a wide range of domestic, international, post-adoption, and development issues. Prior to assuming the senior advisory position, she served as Director of Domestic Programs at Barker from 2003 – 2007. Ms. Niemann is a frequent presenter at adoption workshops, conferences, and on radio and television. (eniemann@barkerfoundation.org)
 

Kathleen Porter
Receptionist & Administrative Assistant
Montgomery College – Technical Writing

Kathleen joined the Barker Foundation in August of 2008. As Receptionist/Administrative Assistant she takes calls and gives assistance and support to all members of the adoption circle and provides them with much-needed information. In addition, Kathleen manages content and  calendar for the new Barker website, and assists with the administrative aspects of the annual conference, pre-adoption groups, and other workshops as needed. (kporter@barkerfoundation.org)