Our Address:
12200 Fairhill Road, Floor A3
Fairhill Partners Collaborative Campus
Cleveland, OH 44120

Our Stories

Abby joined Adoption Network Cleveland as the Family Support Coordinator in January 2024. In this role, she is responsible for providing responsive support and opportunities for parents, caregivers, and youth in adoptive, foster, and kinship families.

Join us in celebrating the invaluable contributions of Black authors, creators, and educators this February—and all year long. In honor of Black History Month, we are highlighting profound works covering adoption, foster care, and kinship care by Black researchers and storytellers. If any of these books spark your interest, consider purchasing from a Black-owned bookstore.

We need Lobby Day volunteers! Register by March 15th to join us in making a difference!

“After every Lobby Day, people come back at the end and they are invigorated and excited and say—that was amazing! I’m so glad I did that! I felt like I made a difference!!” our contract lobbyist Aaron Ockerman said. “Any trepidation they had at 9 am is completely gone by 3 pm.”

Together, we have the power to affect policies that impact the lives of our community. Each year, Adoption Network Cleveland volunteers and staff travel in teams to lobby our state representatives and senators, both freshman and veterans alike. We set Tuesday, May 7th as our 2024 Lobby Day! Volunteers will advocate for our public policy agenda, deliver materials, and give attention getting gifts of branded candy.

In celebrating the remarkable milestone of our 35th anniversary, we embarked on a reflective journey with Betsie Norris, founder and Executive Director of Adoption Network Cleveland. With a wealth of experience garnered over three and a half decades of leadership, Betsie generously shares her top ten lessons learned in steering the course of an organization dedicated to advocacy, education, and support for those impacted by adoption.

Join us this year in one or all of our Special Topic General Discussion Meetings.

While the majority of meetings are open discussions, one group per month will offer a discussion based on a special topic. Our topic meetings are very popular and a great way to welcome people who don’t normally attend a support group.

“It was started for those who had these surprise circumstances come up,” said Karen Wyman, a program manager at the Adoption Network. She oversees the DNA Discovery Support Group established by the nonprofit. She specializes in helping people find family members.

In the late 2010s in the USA, data and technology had led to easily accessible, reasonably reliable DNA testing and matching of biological relatives. My understanding and trust in data, coupled with the loss of my brother a few years prior, led me to spit in a tube and send it off to the leading ancestry companies at the time (there may also have been some wine involved, back then). It would be fun. I wouldn’t worry about it too much. And if anything materialized, it would be really neat to meet someone I shared blood with.

Four Adoption Network Cleveland Board of Directors completed their terms of service and retired from the board, including Molly Cissell, Daniel Gisser, Julie Lady, and Carlin Culbertson. All four were honored for their service at the 2023 Annual Meeting in November.

Aaron Ockerman and Carrie Lauterbach are our 2023 Advocates of the Year

Susan Saltzman Recognized as our 2023 Volunteer of the Year

Adoption Network Cleveland Board Members 2023 - Kim Dyckes, Carla Lanier, Jeffery Rohrs, Kirsten Simonton, Christine Zanoni, Ron Copfer

"Being adopted internationally from Russia, I had been under the impression that it simply wasn’t possible to search for my birth family due to the little information given regarding my origins. I never entertained the idea of a reunion that seemed to be blatantly impossible; I would just have to continue to wonder where my traits came from, or maintain a facade of disinterest."

Weaving Cultures | Supporting Families Formed Through Transracial Adoption

Creating Futures 2023 Keynote Speaker, Tammara Humbert

I want to take you back.  Back to the feeling of a young 14yr old teenager looking to connect with her birth family & discover roots and where she came from.