My passion is working toward permanent, safe and loving homes for children.

I aim to explore options and achieve positive results for birth parents who find themselves in difficult situations, and help individuals and couples experience the same joy I have experienced in growing a family.  

I was born and raised in Throckmorton, Texas—the capital of Cow Country! After high school I headed to Virginia, where I completed my bachelor’s degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, and received my law degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville in 1992. After law school, I worked for a very large law firm in Texas, co-managed a very small retreat center in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and, along with my family, spent five years in South Africa as a community development volunteer.  

Since returning to my husband’s hometown of Versailles, Missouri (that’s “sails,” not “sigh”!) in 2006, I have served as a small-town general practice attorney, a municipal prosecuting attorney, and an assistant county prosecuting attorney. I’ve also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Missouri School of Law.

Six years ago, I narrowed my focus to adoption and adoption-related matters, surrogacy, and guardianships for children.

While I live and work in rural central Missouri, I represent clients in adoptions and guardianships across the state. I also represent prospective adoptive parents from across the United States who have been matched with an expectant mom from Missouri.  

I’ve represented all parties to an adoption—adoptive parents, birth mothers, birth fathers, and even children as their court-appointed guardian ad litem. I’ve handled private adoptions, agency adoptions, foster adoptions and step-parent or other relative adoptions. I also regularly represent grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other caring adults in obtaining legal guardianships for children in their care.   

Are you ready to start your journey?

I am proud to be a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA), an organization of nearly 500 highly vetted attorneys dedicated to the competent and ethical practice of adoption and assisted reproduction law.

I’ve also recently become a member of the Elwood L. Thomas American Inn of Court, an association of lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals who are committed to professional excellence.

Separate from my legal experience, I was fortunate enough to marry my best friend over 30 years ago, and Ron and I have two children.  Elijah is a junior at the University of Missouri in Columbia, and Audrey just began her first year at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. (And yes, it gets cold there.) My current favorite pastime is yoga.