Abby develops, implements and oversees all clinical and programmatic activities for the foster care, adoption and post adoption programs, helping to match children and move families through the adoption process.
Abby has an MSW from the Catholic University of America and brings over 22 years working with human and social service agencies.
Abby enjoys playing recreational soccer and is the mother of one daughter.
Alexis Padilla is the Bilingual Adoption Navigator for California Kids Connection, the state of California’s photolisting of children in foster care who are available for adoption. She believes that every child deserves a family and is committed to helping children in foster care find permanent, supportive, loving and nurturing families. Alexis earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from California State University, Stanislaus and is currently enrolled in Holy Names University’s Dual Masters Program in Counseling Psychology and Forensic Psychology. She will be pursuing an MFT license upon graduation in order to provide therapeutic services for at-risk and disadvantaged youth and children.
Amirah Salaam, a registered marriage and family therapist intern, is a social worker for Family Builders by Adoption where she puts her master’s degree in counseling psychology from John F. Kennedy University to work working with individuals, children and families. In her free time, Amirah likes to drum, exercise, attend concerts, movies, community lectures, and time spent with family and friends.
Blanca E. Almonte has worked for Family Builders since 2002. She has a MA from the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and her social work experience includes psychiatric social work, family therapy, individual counseling, training and administration. She has taught social work at the BA and Masters Degree levels and multicultural education for bilingual education teachers. A Mexican immigrant, Blanca has been particularly interested in the influence of culture in child rearing and in early childhood education. She has a strong commitment to providing support to parents and their children. Blanca is fully bilingual and is part of the team that provides adoption services in Spanish.
Colleen has worked in the non-profit sector for over 20 years. She has a combined passion for social justice and fundraising. She is devoted to the cause of finding families for foster kids, particularly LGBTQ youth. With a degree in Russian language, Colleen's careeer didn't quite pan out the way she had planned! Bitten by the social justice bug, she realized non-profit work was her path. Her career has included working with children's organizations, faith-based organizations and human service organizations. She has loved each and every one! Colleen has three wonderful children and lives in Berkeley, along with her cats, Buda and Cuda, and her dogs, Spike and Ruff..
Gloria has been employed at Family Builders since 1985. She started her social work career in Connecticut over forty-fiveyears ago as a foster care, family preservation, and adoptions social worker. After moving to California, she worked for Catholic Social Service in San Francisco initially as an office manager but then as a social worker, doing pregnancy counseling, domestic and intercountry home studies, and post-placement supervision of children. She also designed and implemented that agency’s post-adoption program which involved reunions of adult adopted children with their birth families. Gloria wanted to be a social worker from the time she was a teenager, and has Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. Having grown up in a family of ten children, Gloria has always had a particular interest in preserving sibling bonds. She is passionate about the mission of Family Builders and the success the agency has had in providing permanent families for children who might otherwise not have what she considers a right of every child. She herself is a single adoptive mother of a teenage son.
Ines was born and raised in Nicaragua, Central America. She earned a MSW from California State University, Sacramento and has twenty-five years of experience working in the following areas: Court Intake, Family Reunification/Family Maintenance, Adoptions, and Concurrent Planning. She has worked at Family Builders since 2006 as a Family Developer for the AdoptUsKids Recruitment Response Team. Ines enjoys her job because "I help families over the telephone and provide prospective families with information about foster care and adoption”. Also, she monitors the family’s progress until they have completed either the licensing process for foster care or their home study for adoption. Her primary goal is to help families understand the foster care and adoption process by answering questions and providing them with the appropriate resources available in their community.
Jill is proud to have had the position of accountant with Family Builders since 2006.
She has twenty years of varied experience with non-profit corporations and is pleased to work with this wonderful staff and board of directors.
Jill is a second generation Californian and the Bay Area has always been home.She earned her Bachelor of Science-Business Administration from California State University – Hayward while raising a family. She now has more leisure time to enjoy traveling with her husband and family activities with their three adult sons.
Jill brings over 25 years experience in multi-cultural community based health and social services organizations. She has a Masters degree in Health Services Administration, as well as extensive experience in fiscal management, program development, strategic planning and public policy advocacy. She has been the Executive Director of Family Builders since 1996, and has developed a program model that is responsive to the needs of children and youth needing permanent families. Her many professional affiliations include: the California Alliance of Child and Family Services, California Association of Adoption Agencies, California Permanency for Youth Project, Family Builders Adoption Network, National Advisory Network for the Child Welfare League of America and Lambda Joint Initiative, National Advisory Council of Human Rights Campaign All Children All Families Initiative, Children and Family Services Network of Alameda County, California Department of Social Services State Advisory Committee on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) Children and Youth in Child Welfare. Jill is a national leader and advocate on issues affecting LGBT adoptive families and LGBTQ youth in foster care. Jill has created innovative programs to meet the needs of underserved and disenfranchised children and youth; including services for older youth, believing no child should leave the foster care system without a permanent family. Jill is the mother of two children, via adoption.
"By the time I was a junior in high school, I knew that I wanted to be a social worker, to work with youth." Kevin received his BS in Social Welfare from Adelphi University, Garden City, NY., in 1982. “I was living in New York and wanted to be bilingual.” Kevin decided to join the US Peace Corps where he served three years as a social worker in the children’s facility, Las Aldeas SOS, Tegucigalpa, Honduras. “That paved the way for my professional experience upon my return to the US in 1987.” In 1990, Kevin received his MS in Community Development at the University of Missouri, Columbia, MO. He then worked for ten years as a social worker for The Casey Family Program in Walnut Creek California. After a well-needed sabbatical, Kevin began working for Family Builders in 2002. Kevin has been a permanency expert, creating permanent homes and life-long connections for older youth from Alameda and San Francisco counties for almost 10 years.
Liza brings a unique blend of professional and life experience to Family Builders. She spent 20 years being a homemaker, raising two children and three Guide Dogs for the Blind puppies. More recently, Liza had been working in both the medium and maximum security county jails as a literary outreach and high school teacher as well as an independent bookkeeper.
Born in Rochester, New York, Liza attended Skidmore College and the University of South Carolina where she received a B.S. in Chemistry with a math minor. She moved to California (where she always knew she should be) to attend graduate school at UC Berkeley. She graduated with a Master’s of Science studying organo-actinide chemistry.
Liza lives in San Francisco with her wife, Jody and two career change guide dogs - Espresso and Radar. An avid hiker (Half Dome twice as well as across the Grand Canyon and back), she enjoys camping and riding her retired racehorse, Utah Beach.
Margarita is a fost/adopt social worker at Family Builders and started her work here in November 2008. Previously, she was a Child Welfare Worker for 17 years with San Francisco Human Services Agency, investigating child abuse allegations, doing case management, training and licensing foster parents and numerous other tasks. Margarita worked as a counselor for San Diego county Juvenile Hall for 3 years. She also has been working part-time at an Oakland private practice as a psychological assistant for 5 years. Her passion is being a volunteer at San Quentin for the last 6 years.
Margarita's mission in life is to help as many people as she can, especially the disenfranchised, neglected and forgotten members of society.
She has an MS in counseling and a Psy.D in clinical psychology.
Mark has worked in the nonprofit field for over 13 years. He is currently an MSW student at Cal State - East Bay and has also earned a Bachelors degree from Oberlin College, and an MBA from the Hass School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Mark also currently serves as the Secretary of the California Association of Adoption Agencies, and is on the board of the Post Adoption Center for Education and Research.
Martina is an Adoption Navigator for California Kids Connection. A Bay Area native, she attended the University of California, Santa Cruz and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. Martina’s previous nonprofit experience includes work with the National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, and as a crisis line volunteer at the Contra Costa Crisis Center. During the summer months, Martina works as a commercial fisherwoman in Bristol Bay, Alaska. She is proud of her work with CKC and Family Builders and is committed to helping find permanent, loving families for children in need.
Melissa received her Bachelors in Psychology in 1997 and her Masters in Social Worker from California State University, Long Beach in 1999. She worked as a medical social worker for two years before coming to Family Builders in 2002. Her passion to help children and families drew her to the field of adoptions. Families that open their hearts to children with special needs inspire her and she feels privileged to help them build attachments and navigate the foster care system and adoption process. In Melissa’s time away from work she enjoys spending time with her 7-year old daughter and volunteering as a canine companion at the SPCA.
Nancy has worked in the Adoption and Foster Care field for 10 years. She has a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. She currently supervises the permanency work at Family Builders and is passionate about finding permanent homes for older foster youth. Nancy also coordinates the Conversion Home Study program. She loves working for Family Builders and is very proud of the agency and the hard work and dedication of all its employees. Nancy also believes that Family Builders is fortunate to work with so many wonderful families and youth. Nancy has raised 6 children who are all adults now and sees them as her proudest achievement.
Rhonda earned a BA in Law Studies from St. Mary's College and hasover 20 years of experience working with under-served communities, with an emphasis on families. Her passion is helping to give voice to individuals who have had their voices diminished or silenced due to historical and habitual norms. She has worked in several areas of the non-profit sector including gang prevention/intervention outreach, family advocacy and support, providing housing assistance and supportive services to homeless and formerly homeless families, and the development and implementation of training programs for chronically under and unemployed individuals. She is married and the mother of three, as well as "Granny" to an adorable little girl.
Rob Woronoff, MS, has worked with and on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and families for 20 years. He is a nationally-recognized expert and leader in efforts to address their needs. Before joining Family Builders, Rob spent several years as Director of LGBTQ Services with the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) in Washington, DC, where coordinated a national initiative to strengthen the capacity of America’s child welfare system to deal equitably and competently with LGBTQ youth and families. Among other positions he has held, Rob was a trainer on LGBTQ issues for the Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York City and Director of LGBTQ Services for The Home for Little Wanderers in Boston. He has authored numerous articles, reports and other publications on supportive care for LGBTQ youth. His work has been featured in Time, The Advocate, CNN, USA Today, and other newspapers and publications throughout the country. Rob holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Drama School at Carnegie-Mellon University and a Master of Science degree in Human Services Program Development from the University of Massachusetts.
Stacey Lynch has been the Office Manager at Family Builders since October 2006. She is a native of Oakland where she attended Merritt College and the University of San Francisco. Before coming to Family Builders she worked as a Collection Manager, Facilities Manager, HR liaison and was a Retail Attitude Gurl at Macy*s. She believes that all contributions are significant when they are towards anything that ultimately helps heal society, children and any individual who appears to have gotten the short end of the stick. She enjoys laughter, music, nature and quiet time with God.
Valeriana Schroeder came to work to Family Builders in the first quarter of 2011; her first bachelor degree is in Psychology and second is in Business Information Systems. Valeriana is a native of Germany born in Oldenburg, her family moved around a bit, living in Bolivia, San Salvador and Honduras where she spent her formative years. She considers Spanish her first language. Valeriana completed her degrees in Logan, Utah and moved to California in 2003, where she was introduced to her husband. They have an adorable 2 year old son.
Valeriana shares Family Builders' commitment of finding “forever” families for all children who are waiting in foster care. She is passionate about helping to build families and has seen the final results. For Valeriana and her family, children come first
Yvonne Beals joined Family Builders in March 2012 as the Community Outreach Coordinator and Recruiter. Yvonne has a public policy and community building background of 20 years. Yvonne worked in the California State Legislature for over 10 years and since she has continued to work for various non-profit and governmental agencies to develop public policy and an increased awareness to address the needs and barriers that affect disadvantaged and underrepresented populations.
Born and raised in Pittsburg, California, Yvonne Beals obtained her B.S. in Criminal Justice from California State University, Sacramento and received a Masters degree in Public Administration, Public Policy from California State University, East Bay.
Yvonne is passionate about improving the lives of others through advocacy and policy change. Yvonne enjoys sports, music and spending time with her daughter and family. Her proudest life moment is when she became a new mom in 2011.
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