Woman to Know: Michele Jackson Tireless attorney is a fierce believer in international adoption

Woman to Know: Michele Jackson Tireless attorney is a fierce believer in international adoption

Leslie Bailey, Indianapolis

11:28 a.m. EST December 11, 2013

Michele Jackson wishes she was better at cooking. And exercising. And doing crafts.

Never mind that the 38-year-old mother of six is a partner at Harden Jackson Law, executive director of MLJ Adoptions Inc. and founder of Global Orphan Foundation. Jackson somehow feels she could be doing more when it comes to DIY projects.

"My husband laughs at me because I have a craft room, and I don't do crafts, but I do. I put stickers on cards all the time," she said. Jackson is smitten with her husband, WellPoint CFO Wayne DeVeydt, blushing nearly every time he comes up in conversation.

Their story is one of a true modern family.

Upon marrying in 2010, Jackson became stepmother to DeVeydt's three daughters, Gabby, 10, Emma, 12, and Kaitlyn, 17. Then came Kingston and Thaxton, 2-year-old boys the couple adopted from Democratic Republic of Congo. The boys were born three days apart and have been together since they were a month old. Jackson and DeVeydt are also guardians to Ana, an 11-year-old girl they met at an orphanage in Nicaragua.

Jackson, a native of Anderson and a graduate of Indiana University School of Law, spends three strictly scheduled days a week at MLJ Adoptions, where she oversees 20 domestic and 20 foreign employees who serve about 500 families with adoptions in eight countries in addition to domestic and special-needs adoptions.

The other two weekdays are spent at Harden Jackson Law, where Jackson practices adoption and assisted reproduction law. Then, of course, there's a bit of work in between to be done at Jackson's Auction and Real Estate Co., the business she operates with her father and brother. (Yes, she can auctioneer chant with the best of them — I may have "bought" her dining room table during this interview.)

Find out why Jackson chose international adoption, how she communicates with her husband and what farm animals have to do with her idea of "having it all."

, but I started saying I wanted to be one in third grade. I thought I would do advocacy work for women and children, but as I did mission trips and international travel, it started to evolve. I did a research project on the exploitation of homeless children, the ones in orphanages — there's no one there to protect these most vulnerable children from prostitution rings and sweatshops, etc.

as just one of the options to help. When you see the numbers of 150,000,000 orphans in our world, you realize there have to be several solutions; there can't just be one. Let's educate moms more. Let's have birth control. Let's change the culture — there are so many things that can be done, but a lot of those can take years. Although international adoptions can take a few years, it's a lot sooner than something that's going to take 50 years. It's going to affect that one child immediately.

s from individuals who are upset that I focus on children in other countries instead of the children who are in need here. First and foremost, I'm pro-adoption and it does not matter where. Everybody's family decision is a personal decision.

, even in a bad situation, like foster care, which I don't think is good or acceptable, but I can also compare it to what I've seen in Haiti and Congo. There is no doubt that the children in the United States have much more of an opportunity to have nutrition, clothes and education. You go into an orphanage in Haiti or Congo and they don't have clothes or shoes or food. Fifty percent of kids under 2 years old die in orphanages in Congo — it's a morgue. It's not a place where anyone is going to thrive, and if you do get past your first two years, what's waiting for you? There's not free education like there is here. There's not welfare like there is here. There's not a foster care system like there is here — unless international adoption comes in and changes those kinds of things.

. There's legitimacy in some parts of the spectrum like issues with how international adoption is done, but there's another extreme of "there should be no international adoption because these kids need to stay in their own country where they belong."

in the U.S. too, but the difference is that kids in some countries don't have clean water, or a mosquito bite can give them malaria and they can die — that's pretty significant. My heart was led in that direction.

I

(at MLJ Adoptions Inc.) and have been able to give back a lot, but people constantly say, "You're only in this for the money, international adoption is big business." That $30,000 is going in a lot of different directions and the portion we get is very miniscule.

you've arrived, you will be humbled really quick. Sometimes the fall is greater when people hold you up higher, but that can be good.

. That is so much work. I don't know why I would want to do that to myself, but I was a 4-H kid — pigs, horses, alpacas, I'd have it all.

when I travel. My husband is extremely capable of taking care of everything, but we're a team, so I have to leave instructions on my part. We communicate via calendar invites constantly.

— isn't everyone in Indiana? I love Delicia and little places like Libertine and Black Market. I'm not big on chains, I prefer local, but I like Ocean Prime.

how compassionate I am because I'm always worried about the business side of things. As the boss of 40 people who are serving 500 people, I have to be strong for them.

. I believe every child has a fundamental human right to have a family. In 2007, there were about 20,000 adoptions; last year there were not quite 9,000.

It may take me only five minutes to fill it up and I may only be in it five minutes, at the most 15, but that's my time.

is to learn how to shut down from work at the end of the day.

Call Star reporter Leslie Bailey at (317) 444-6094 and follow her on Twitter: @Lesalina

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Editor's note:

This is the 10th in a series of stories, an Indy Living experiment, that explores the network of creative women in the city based on recommendations from the women themselves. A woman is profiled the first Sunday of each month.

We started in January with 31-year-old Meggie Dials, founder of The Sussy Project, who introduced us to ...

Mendy Werne, 34-year-old COO of Blast Media, who introduced us to ...

Kimberly Demaree, 44-year-old yoga instructor, and owner of WIP Downtown hair studio. She led us to ...

Regina Jones, 45, managing broker of Carpenter Realtors and a former Colts cheerleader. She intro-duced us to ...

Rose Ann Yarling, 48, a professional photographer/owner of Faces by Yarling. She introduced us to ...

Sandy Jeffers, 52, executive director of Pathway to Recovery. She led us to ...

Janine Betsey, 43, executive director of King Park Area Development Corp. She led us to ...

Crystal Grave, 36, founder of Snappening. She led us to ...

Jeronna Mabrey, 34, Dress for Success Indianapolis Stepping Out in Style 2013 client spokeswoman and founder of ICON, LLC. Mabrey introduced us to Michele Jackson, 38.

Jackson wants us to meet Kathleen Spears, executive director of Cancer Support Community Central Indiana.

"She is a ball of energy and is constantly at charity events, not to be seen, but working in the background to ensure the organization has a successful event," said Jackson.