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The Center is a non-profit adoption agency licensed in both Illinois and Indiana since the mid 1990s. We offer a safe, caring atmosphere for birthparents and adoptive parents. We have a wonderful staff of specially trained adoption counselors. Most of the staff have had experience with adoption in their own lives, giving them insights into the issues facing adoptive parents and birthmothers. A team of dedicated counselors specializing in Adoption.
Our History The Adoption Center was first licensed in 1996 as one of several Illinois adoption agencies. Two years later, the Center was licensed as an Indiana adoption agency. We are an outgrowth of Adoption Resources, founded in 1987 by Tobi Ehrenpreis, a social worker and adoptive mother of two. Tobi was later joined by Maggie Gill Benz, also a social worker and adoptive parent. Today, our team of professionals is comprised of several adoption counselors, an office manager and an advertising assistant. The Center has an all volunteer Board of Directors including a clinical psychologist, a neonatologist, a college professor, business people, an adult adoptee and adoptive parents. |
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Meet our Staff
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Directors: | ||
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Tobi
Ehrenpreis, M.A, MPH is Executive Director of the Center. Tobi
has a Bachelors Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
She also holds a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of
Chicago, and a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of
Illinois. Tobi founded the
Adoption Center in
1996. She oversees all financial, marketing and administrative services and counsels families waiting to
adopt. Tobi and her husband Bob have two daughters by adoption.
In 2001, Tobi founded On Your Feet Foundation, a not-for-profit organization providing post adoption counseling, support groups and small grants to birthmothers for education and job training. |
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Maggie Gill Benz,
LCSW, LMFT is the Clinical Director of the Center and co-founder of the agency.
She
holds Masters Degrees in Psychology and Social Work from the University of
Illinois, Jane Addams School of Social Work. Maggie has over 25
years of experience in the adoption field, and is both a licensed Clinical
Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist. Maggie oversees all home study
services, counsels adoptive families and supervises the birth parent counselors.
She has two sons, one through adoption.
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| Counselors: | ||||
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Cher
Pollock, LCPC is a Birthmother Advocate and a birthmother
herself. Cher
is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor with a Masters Degree in counseling from National
Lewis University. She has been with the Center since l998, working
with birthparents in Central and Southern Illinois and
Central Indiana.
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Carol Nightingale,
LCSW, is an Advocate,
providing homestudy services to adoptive families. Carol has a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University
of Illinois. She has worked as a school counselor with adolescents
for many years. Carol's personal life has been touched by adoption;
her husband is an adoptee and they have two children—one through
adoption.
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Sue Stewart,
LCSW is
an Adoption Advocate conducting homestudies in the greater Chicago area for the past twenty years.
Sue has been with the Adoption Center for the past eight
years. Sue holds a
Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of Chicago.
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Christy Kall, M.Ed,
is an adoption counselor and birthmother advocate in the greater
Chicago area and Northwest Indiana. She earned her Master's Degree in community counseling
from DePaul
University in Chicago. Christy previously worked as a counselor with
sexual assault survivors and she enjoys working with birth parents.
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. Mary Seddon,
MPH is an Adoption Advocate, providing outreach, education
and counseling to birthparents in Northern and Northwest Indiana. Mary
has earned a Masters
Degree in Public Health from the University of South Florida and she
has worked in the counseling field for many years before joining the
Adoption Center staff. Mary has two teenage children
through adoption.
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Administrative
Services: | ||||
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Nancy
Feldman, AA, is Office Manager. With over 20 years
administrative experience, Nancy coordinates all day-to-day
administrative functions, and keeps the office running
smoothly. Nancy holds an Associates Degree in Child Development,
and is the mother of two teenagers through adoption. After
working in Corporate America for many years, Nancy is enjoying
being a part of a social service agency that helps to create families
through adoption.
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Nelly Maldonado, MA,
is Advertising/Administrative Assistant. She
graduated from TEC de Monterrey with a Law Degree and got her Masters
Degree
in Arts Education from the UANL in Mexico. Nelly volunteered at a
Mexican
orphanage for many years. One of Nelly's many contributions to the
agency is the fact that she is a native Spanish speaker who is able to
act as a translator with Spanish speaking birth mothers.
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Center policies and practices: The Adoption Center is small and recognizes that every adoption is unique, as are the individuals involved in the process. All adoption agencies are licensed by the state(s) in which they operate and are required to follow certain rules and procedures. Adoption Center for Family Building prides itself on being flexible and offering individualized services to our clients. Our mission is to remain small and personal.
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About the Center |
Interested In Adopting? Pregnant and Considering Adoption? Meet Prospective Parents | Contact Us |
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