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board image: children sitting on bench in Georgian orphanage

Board of Directors

 

Michael Garabedian, Esq.

President

Michael Garabedian is the managing partner of Rayano & Garabedian, P.C., a general practice firm located in New York, specializing in litigation and transactional matters for domestic, closely-held corporations, partnerships and business professionals. He received his undergraduate degree from New York University in 1982, and his juris doctor (i.e., law degree) from Union University, Albany Law School, in 1985. Along with being admitted to practice law in all of the courts of the State of New York, Michael is admitted in the United States District Courts for the Eastern and Southern Districts of New York, as well as the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Michael is a third generation Armenian-American who is intensely proud of his heritage, and has worked to engender and preserve the best attributes of Armenian culture. Towards this end, Michael is the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the New York Armenian Home, a non-for-profit assisted living facility located in New York City for senior citizens of Armenian descent. Michael and his wife are the adoptive parents of an Armenian child.

 

Brenda Smith

Founder and Secretary

Brenda Smith, owner of a branding agency in New York City, is the adoptive mother of Ella, who came from one of the orphanages of the Republic of Georgia. Adopting Ella was a challenging and time consuming process that included four lost referrals, a political coup in Georgia, three adoption-related trips to Georgia, scant support from the adoption agency she used (not Hopscotch) and scores of delays. After Ella came home safe and sound, Brenda started working with Robin Sizemore to build the adoption agency she wished she had worked with: one that offered personal support, knowledgeable and accessible employees, and a transparent process.

Brenda’s three trips to Tbilisi in 2004 gave her unique opportunities to see and experience in stark reality what life in an Eastern European orphanage is like for children. Since bringing Ella home, Brenda has been an active fund raiser for humanitarian aid for these orphanages, and she is committed to improving both the physical and emotional environments in which the children live.

 

Virginia L. Mason

Member

Virginia L. Mason’s life’s work and focus is on finding solutions to conditions which affect the lives of children and youth. She is the mother of 8 adopted children from all over the world, 2 biological children and a ward. Currently the Interim Executive Director of Teen Living Programs in Chicago, Illinois, Virginia has been a non-profit executive for many years. She served as a United Way executive for 14 years, the President and CEO of Family Support America for 11 and most recently as the CEO of Girl Scouts of Colorado. She is also the founder of the School of Hope at the Khaberd Orphange in Armenia, serving 18 young people with special needs.

She is the author of numerous articles and papers, a keynote speaker at many conferences and seminars, and received the Brazelton Foundation award for organizational excellence. She received the Clanzel Brown award from the Northeast Florida Urban League for her contributions to community unity and racial reconciliation. Author of the "Covenant of Reconciliation," she staffed the Mayor of Jacksonville Florida in creating "Jacksonville Together, the Mayor's Commission on Racial Reconciliation."

Kristen Dadey, Esq.

Member

Kristin Dadey, a licensed attorney, lives overseas in Cairo, Egypt managing anti-human trafficking programs for the International Organization for Migration. Before moving overseas in 2003, Kristin practiced labor law in Washington, DC, working in both the government and non-profit sector. She received her Masters in Public Administration and Juris Doctorate from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and College of Law in 1998. Kristin’s work in Indonesia, the Republic of Georgia and Egypt changed her in profound ways, witnessing firsthand the extreme vulnerability of children, especially in developing countries. Her years of overseas experience have given her a keen understanding of the international rights of children, and dedicated to the basic children's rights' principle that all children have the right to grow up in a permanent family, Kristin is passionate in her advocacy on behalf of orphans.

Kristin and her husband Sean are the proud parents of one adopted daughter from Indonesia and two biological daughters.

 

Karen Kozlowski Graham, LCSW

Ex-Officio

Karen, mother of two internationally adopted children, is a licensed Clinical Social Worker with a graduate degree in Social Service Administration.  She has held executive leadership positions in for profit and not for profit organizations and developed and run social services agencies focused on services for Deaf and for mentally ill individuals, as well as had a clinical practice specializing in couples, families, and people with disabilities. Karen has won national awards from the American Psychiatric Association and from the University of Chicago for her human service work in mental health.

Karen is fluent in American Sign Language and part of her current work has been in providing appropriate translators for Deaf people who need assistance with accessing services.  She is passionate in her advocacy for people with disabilities and for disadvantaged children, and served as the president of the Washington State Chapter of Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption for eight years.

But the most important passion for Karen and her husband are their two children. They have a daughter adopted from Georgia and a son adopted from Russia.

 

Sirka Louca, LCSW

Advisor

Sirka Louca is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker with Psychotherapy Privileges. She attended graduate school at Stony Brook University and has focused her career on working with youth and families. Sirka’s experience has included working in a community mental health clinic providing psychotherapy and support services to at-risk youth and their families; school social work in an alternative high school program; and director of a community residence for adolescent males.

She currently holds the position of Senior Education Specialist in the Child Welfare Training Program in Stony Brook University’s School of Social Welfare. In her position there, Sirka teaches seminars to foster parents, group home staff and Department of Social Services caseworkers on issues related to working with children in foster or residential care. The seminars are diverse but primarily focus on loss, separation, trauma and adoption. Sirka and her husband have two children they adopted internationally.

 

Tamara Martin, MD

Honorary Member

Dr. Tamara Martin is a highly regarded orthopedic surgeon, Department Head of Orthopedic Surgery at Boston V.A. hospital and Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School. She is the founder and president of the Pediatric Orthopedic International Foundation (POIF), a humanitarian non-profit organization which provides free surgery to orphaned children and provides free surgical training to surgeons in Georgia. In addition, Tamara collects and organizes the shipment of containers filled with modern and indispensable surgical and post operative supplies. POIF takes teams to Georgia twice a year. Tamara and her husband Dr. Scott Martin are proud parents to a biological daughter, biological twins, twin Georgian daughters and one Georgian son.

 
Not for profit. 
 Just for kids.