| Meet Our
Staff: Child Specific Recruiter: Jill Avery
Jill has worked in the adoption field, through IASC, for seven years and with the AFFME program since its inception in early December 2000. Jill has a bachelor's degree in psychology from Colby-Sawyer College and a Master's degree in social work from the University of New England. She has been a child specific recruiter, helps to coordinate the Heart Gallery photo sessions and is excited to be part of AFFMe's team to find recruitment opportunities for Maine children. Jill loves working directly with children looking for permanent families and learning about each child's interests, strengths and activities. Jill and her husband are thrilled to have added to their family through adoption. They and their son enjoy traveling, hockey, gardening, camping and watching movies.
Karen Page is the Child Specific Recruiter for A Family For ME. Karen has been working with AFFME since June 2005 and has been a part of many projects. Initially, she worked on a federal grant that helped children who have been waiting for over one year achieve permanency. Upon completion of that grant, Karen transitioned to the role of Southern Maine Recruitment and Development Specialist. Karen is currently the Child Specific Recruiter with A Family For ME, and hopes this is the role she will continue with for years to come! In her role at AFFME, Karen is responsible for coordinating the many services AFFME offers to children. As a part of a team, Karen assists caseworkers in various ways to achieve permanency for the young people on their caseloads. Karen takes pride in working for AFFME because she truly believes EVERY child needs and deserves a forever family. In her spare time, Karen enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She enjoys scrapbooking, camping and traveling in her spare time. She is also a big sports fan, and enjoys watching football on Sundays and the Red Sox all summer long!
Jennifer joined the IASC staff in March 2001 and began working for both IASC and the AFFME program. She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Maine at Augusta with a concentration in psychology and sociology, and plans to further her education in the future. In her role at AFFME, Jennifer is responsible for coordinating, organizing, and promoting AFFME's "Meet & Greet" celebrations for children awaiting adoption and prospective adoptive families. Jennifer also works closely with the Child Specific Recruitment team in assisting families through the adoption process. Jennifer takes pleasure in working for AFFME because it allows her to "interact with families that are on their journey through foster care or adoption" and the significant impact her efforts can have in making a child's or a family's life whole. Jennifer is married and the mother of two beautiful girls. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends. Her favorite hobbies are camping, skiing and enjoying the outdoors with her family. Norma is a graduate of Erskine Academy High School and spent 28 years working for the Maine Department of Human Services' Central Office in Augusta prior to joining the staff of IASC in August 1998. She has been involved with the AFFME program since its inception in early December 2000. Norma's DHS career included eight years of working closely with the state's Adoption Assistance Program and the Adoption Program Manager. Her wealth of knowledge and experience are extremely beneficial to the AFFME program and to the many children and families it serves. In her role at AFFME, Norma is responsible for sending public service announcements to the media, for maintaining the program's events calendar, for answering and responding to telephone calls and e-mail messages and for recording statistics for the program, among many other tasks. Norma takes pride in being able to assist people through the knowledge and experience that she has gained through her years of service at DHS. When she is not working for AFFME, Norma enjoys riding horses and motorcycles, gardening and rescuing dogs through the humane society.
Jennifer Hutchison joined A Family For ME in March of 2007. Her role as Northern Maine Recruiter offers the opportunity for her to work in collaboration with others in order to find homes for Maine's waiting children in the care of the Department of Health and Human Services. Fundamental to her role is meeting new people and developing contacts with in the community, government, media, etc. It is her hope to reach as many families as possible that have the potential to parent a child in need and provide a safe and loving home. A graduate of McDaniel College in Maryland, she has a bachelor's degree in Sociology with a concentration in Human Relations and a minor in Education. She hopes to further her education in the future. Upon graduation she moved to Maine where she has spent the last several years working directly with children of all ages in the social service field. Jennifer enjoys spending time with family and friends, including her husband and their two dogs. Her hobbies include reading, watching movies, jewelry making and traveling.
Patricia Brace is the Southern Maine Recruiter for A Family for ME. Patricia has worked and volunteered for A Family for ME periodically over the past 6 years as a Community Outreach Organizer. Now as the Southern Maine Recruiter for AFFME, Patricia looks to communities, businesses, churches, school, and media sources to develop potential foster and adoptive homes for Maine's children. Patricia has a Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree with a Painting focus from Maine College of Art. For Patricia working to help children find loving, safe, and permanent homes is integral to her practice and beliefs as an artist and how art functions in the world. As a Southern Maine Recruiter, Patricia hopes that she can inspire and affect families' perceptions regarding the roles that they can play in a child's life. Patricia's family has been enriched by adoption and foster care since the day that she was born. For Patricia, it is the ability to give back to the community the gift that foster care and adoption has played in her life that she hopes she can provide to children and families of Maine.
Stacey has been involved as a graphic artist and volunteer with International Adoption Services Centre and A Family for ME for many years. She joined the staff on a full-time basis as the Special Projects Coordinator in November 2003 after careers in the construction field and as a Technology Education and Science teacher. She has a bachelor's degree in Technology Education from the University of Southern Maine. In her role at AFFME, Stacey is responsible for coordinating, organizing, and promoting AFFME's "Thursday’s Child", a recruitment opportunity for Maine’s waiting children. Stacey is part of the Child Specific Recruitment team. She sends out profiles to statewide print media venues, organizes kid fun and safe activities for the AFFME Meet & Greet, assist with the photographing of the Heart Gallery, and varied other tasks to assist the children in the state of Maine to find foster and adoptive families. Stacey believes deeply in AFFME's goals and mission. She considers her role as "part of my civic duty to assist in helping children in need." Her work has a positive effect daily in the lives of children in state care and she is proud to work for AFFME. On the personal side, Stacey values spending time with her family and friends and enjoys traveling, gardening, hiking and working with wood. |
Jill
E.B. Avery, LMSW/cc
Karen
Page, LSWc 
Jennifer
Hutchison
Patricia
Brace