JCICS 2006 Board Members

The current 2006 Joint Council Board is composed of ten members. Seven of the Board Members served on the Board in 2005, while one was re-elected and two were elected to the Board for the first time at the annual conference in April 2006.

, President

Rick Gibson earned his BA in psychology from the University of Iowa in 1988. After living in the woods for years, teaching environmental education and counseling boys in a long-term therapy center, Mr. Gibson moved to Minneapolis, MN. In Minneapolis, he counseled grade school children for a number of years then earned a Masters in Social Work from the University of Minnesota. Mr. Gibson began work in adoption at Children’s Home Society & Family Services as a social worker in 1999 and is currently an Adoption Supervisor responsible for Recruitment and Intake for all CHSFS adoption programming.

, Vice-President

Snow Wu is President of Great Wall China Adoptions based in Austin, Texas. Ms. Wu, a native of China, brings her knowledge and expertise of Chinese culture and intercountry adoption to the JCICS Board.

, Secretary

Heather Stultz is the Romania Program Specialist and Post-Placement Coordinator for MAPS International, founded in 1977 by Dawn C. Degenhardt. Ms. Stultz is an active member of the COA Standing Review Committee as well as a co-facilitator of MAPS International’s support evenings for waiting families. Prior to joining MAPS International, Ms. Stultz traveled to both Guatemala and Romania where she worked with low-income families and abandoned children while completing her undergraduate social work education. This is Ms. Stultz's fourth year as Secretary and second term on the Board.

, Treasurer

Linda Vollman has been involved with adoptions at PLAN Loving Adoptions Now, Inc. since 1976. Linda's degree is in management. As General Manager at PLAN she has been able to experience the many facets of adoption both international and domestic. Linda has worn many hats! She has been an adoptive parent/ social work trainer, coordinator/trainer for the Infant Adoption Awareness Training (training health care professionals in the area of adoption), seminar presenter both in the United States and abroad, and public speaker on adoption issues. In the early years of PLAN Linda was active in parent group development - (PLAN was founded by a group of adoptive parents and was one of the first parent-led adoption agencies.) She has been involved in legislative issues pertinent to adoption. Linda has traveled worldwide for PLAN - visiting orphanages, representing the agency and escorting children to their adoptive families. Linda and her husband have children by birth and by adoption.

Deb Murphy-Scheumann is the founder and Executive Director of Special Additions, Inc., established in 1993. Special Additions is an international aid and adoption agency accredited by the Council on Accreditation. She has been involved in the field of international adoptions since the adoption of their daughter Allison from Korea in 1985. Ms. Murphy-Scheumann is the mother of nine children ranging in age from 3 to 28 years of age and has three grandchildren. Three of her children have special needs, shaken baby syndrome, cerebral palsy and fetal alcohol syndrome. This is Ms. Scheumann's second term on the Board of Directors as she served from 2002 - 2005. Deb served as Vice-President of the Board in 2003 and President in 2004 and 2005.

Richard Pearlman was elected to the Board in 2006. He is founder of the Family Resource Center (FRC), a Chicago based Illinois licensed child welfare agency since 1987. During his tenure as FRC's Executive Director, Family Resource Center has participated in more than 2,500 adoptions. Mr. Pearlman was first introduced to the field of child welfare as a student intern with a small Quaker college, Friends World College as he lived and worked with street children in Bogota, Colombia. Mr. Pearlman has traveled to Guatemala, China, Ukraine and Russia. Mr. Pearlman is the father of three children, one of whom is adopted.

Sam Pitkowsky is the current Vice President of the Adoptive Parents Committee, Inc. (APC), a parent support group serving over 3,000 New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut families. He is President of the APC New York City chapter. He has represented APC at JCICS, the Hague Alliance, and the Advisory Council on Intercountry Adoption (ACIA); he serves on the Executive Board of ACIA. He has provided testimony on Capitol Hill, chaired and co-chaired APC conferences, and led workshops for the Open Door Society and NACAC conferences. He has two children adopted from Latin America. This is Mr. Pitkowsky's second term on the Board of Directors as he served from 2001 - 2003.

Jared Rolsky has been the Director of Golden Cradle Adoption Services in Cherry Hill, NJ since 1997. He has been involved with domestic and international adoptions since the early 1980's and has worked to make adoption an accessible and client driven service. Prior to coming to Golden Cradle, Mr. Rolsky was Executive Director or Jewish Family Service of New Haven, CT. There, he expanded the adoption program to include adoptions from South America and Eastern Europe. He has been associated with Council on Accreditation since the mid-1980's and is currently a team leader for COA. Mr. Rolsky was President of the Council of Family Service Agencies of Connecticut, Treasurer of the United Way Executives of CT, board member of the Association of Jewish Family and Children's Agencies and currently Membership Chair and webmaster for the Delaware Valley Adoption Council. He chaired the JCICS Ethics Committee that was charged with the recent Standards of Practice Statement.

Jody Sciortino was elected to the Board in 2006. She has been in the social work field for 30 years and is presently the Director of Social Work with Kidsave International in Washington, DC. Ms. Sciortino received her MSW from the University of Denver in 1980. Her first 17 years un the field were spent in the mental health arena working with children and families and specializing in abuse, trauma and grief loss. Ms. Sciortino has been the clinic coordinator for a multi-disciplinary outpatient psychiatric clinic; the first trauma social worker at a Level II trauma center; and the director of an accredited international adoption agency.

Keith M. Wallace is founder and CEO of Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA). Mr. Wallace is an attorney and a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. FTIA is accredited by the Council on Accreditation for Children and Family Services, Inc. (COA). Keith has served on several JCICS committees. He has presented hundreds of seminars on different aspects of international adoption to various audiences. FTIA is active in many aid projects for children. Keith served as Treasurer in 2004.

Lynn Wetterberg is Director of the Uniting Families Foundation, a small agency in Illinois that has received COA accreditation. She is a CPA and also holds an MS degree in human services administration. Her undergraduate training was in elementary education, and she worked in a school district for seven years. She has testified before Congress on international adoption issues and has presented seminars on adoption in the U.S. and abroad. She has also organized a program in Croatia, which trained health workers, social workers, and religious leaders to recognize and treat post traumatic stress disorder in rape victims. She is the mother of children adopted from Eastern Europe. This is Ms. Wetterberg's second term on the Board of Directors, as she served from 2001 - 2005; Ms. Wetterberg served as Treasurer of the Board for 2002 and 2003 and Vice President in 2004 and 2005.