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 & CEO
 

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
 

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)

Sue Hollar, LCSW-C, LICSW 
Director of Professional Service
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 of 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)   

Cecilia B. Racine, LCSW-C, LCSW
Director of Domestic Adoption Program
BA, Vassar College; MSW, Boston College

Ms. Racine is the Director of the Domestic Adoption Program, Barker's longest established adoption program.  She is responsible for the program's overall administration, including supervising the pregnancy counselors, as well as overseeing the process for adoptive parents. Ms. Racine comes to Barker with 11 years of experience as a social worker and clinician, with many of those years focusing on birth mothers, immigrant women, and maternal and child health issues.  Ms. Racine's past experience includes work with the pre-natal clinics at Holy Cross Hospital and INOVA Fairfax Hospital, as well as contractual social work with Barker, working with adoptive families in the home study and post-placement process.  (cracine@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

Lisa Hughes, LGSW
Pregnancy Counselor & Post Adoption Social Worker
BSW & Spanish, Radford University;
MSW, Virginia Commonwealth University

Ms. Hughes counsels birth parents and their families throughout the adoption process. After the adoption, she provides counseling and ongoing support to both birth parents and the adoptive families.  Her prior experience includes providing therapy and child-care education to patients of the Inova OB/GYN clinic, child welfare work within public foster-care and adoption, crisis counseling at a domestic violence center, and work with adoptive families at another local adoption agency. Ms. Hughes has also served as a child welfare research assistant at the National Association of Social Workers. She earned her MSW from VCU, where she focused her research on trans-racial and international adoption. (lhughes@barkerfoundation.org)

Jana Lee, BSW

Project Wait No Longer Program Coordinator

Bachelor of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University

Ms. Lee joined the Barker Foundation in May of 2011 as the program coordinator for Project Wait No Longer. Ms. Lee is a social worker with Barker’s older child team, which is focused on finding loving, permanent homes for older youth waiting in the US foster care system. She is passionate about the mission of Project Wait No Longer and is a vital part of the team. Ms. Lee's prior experience includes working with at-risk youth in the criminal justice system, in addition to substance abuse work with adults. (jlee@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)
 

Kathie Lehner
Domestic Program Assistant

Ms. 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.  (klehner@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

Ms. Porter is the first point of contact at the Barker Foundation and handles all incoming calls and requests for information. She gives assistance and support to all members of the adoption circle and provides them with much-needed information. In addition, Ms. Porter manages the website, the Barker calendar, and assists with the administrative aspects of the annual conference, pre-adoption groups, and other workshops as needed. (kporter@barkerfoundation.org)

Angela Willmore, LGSW
Korea Program Coordinator
BS, Kent State University; MSW, University of South Carolina 

Ms. Willmore is The Barker Foundation’s Korea Program Coordinator. She is responsible for the overall administration of the agency’s Korea program. Ms. Willmore comes to The Barker Foundation with 13 years of experience working in the field of adoption. While Ms. Willmore has worked with both domestic and international adoption programs, the vast majority of her experience has involved international adoption, 11 years of which she has worked with Korea adoption programs. Prior to joining the staff at Barker, Ms. Willmore worked as a contractual social worker with the agency for 6 years. In this capacity, she worked with families through the home study process, provided post-placement support and supervision, co-facilitated pre-adoption groups, and served as the first point of contact for families wishing to learn more about the agency’s international programs. (awillmore@barkerfoundation.org)