Ayanna Abi-Kyles

Post Adoption Coordinator

In her role, Ayanna organizes peer-to-peer relationship building opportunities for adoptive parents and youth. Ayanna Abi-Kyles was born in Detroit, Michigan. She is married to her lifelong friend Lutalo, and together they have one daughter, Kai. For the first six years of Ayanna’s life, she was loved and cared for by her foster family and was later adopted by her birthfather. Since 1988, Ayanna has been re-united with her birthmother’s family.

Ayanna’s husband and daughter moved north to Ohio from Georgia when her husband accepted a position as a hospital chaplain at Metro Health Center five years ago, with Ayanna arriving to be them in August of 2008. Ayanna joined the staff of Adoption Network Cleveland in 2009.

Ayanna received her B.A. in English and Political Science from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, a Master of Divinity and Theology from Emory University in Atlanta, and a Master’s in counseling from Argosy University in Atlanta. Ayanna worked with Emory University, Candler School of Theology, for seven years, serving as program and research associate. She is continuing her education at Cleveland State University in the Ed.S in counseling program. She recently completed a Treu-Mart Youth Development Fellowship at the Mandel Center at Case Western Reserve University.