Meet Our Founders!
Christina (on the left) is the Co-Founder, Vice-Chair and Director of Bio Mom Peer Mentoring. She is also a mom to four wonderful children and a certified addiction recovery empowerment specialist. Christina is engaged to be married in April of 2025, and moved into her first home last summer. Three and a half years sober and having achieved reunification with her children in September of 2022, Christina helps moms in similar circumstances to what she went through find the freedom, joy and success in life she has experienced. Christina is always trying to improve herself and assist others in doing the same. She and her fiancé enjoy fishing and traveling.
Mary (on the right) Mary is the Founder of Moms Adopting Moms working as the Executive Director and current Chairman of the Board. Mary is a wife and mother as well as a former Technology and Hospitality professional. She and her husband lived seven and a half years in Europe when they first married and have now settled back in Mary's hometown of Athens, Georgia. Mary loves spending time with her daughter, husband, and extended family. She is often found speaking German to anyone that will listen, playing with her dogs, traveling, and listening to audio books. Mary, Christina and their families attend Nations Church in Athens
Meet Jackson!
Board Secretary
Jackson is happily married to Rachel and together they have a beautiful one year old son named Jack and another son due this summer. Jackson graduated from UGA with a business management degree and has been working most recently as a financial advisor taking an educative approach in helping with people’s finances including budgeting, retirement, proper protection and estate planning. Jackson hopes to continue to utilize his passion for business and finance to help others receive financial freedom. He will teach regular finance classes to both foster and biological families in his work as secretary of the board.
Meet Christine!
Christine M. Scartz is a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Georgia School of Law where she teaches Family Law and Law & Social Justice. She is also the director of the School of Law’s Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic, which provides free representation to indigent victims of domestic violence and stalking in protective order cases. Before joining the law school’s faculty in August 2015, Scartz worked as an associate attorney with a Gwinnett County law firm, where she handled a domestic relations and criminal law practice. She has also served as an appointed attorney for criminal appeals in the Gwinnett County Superior Court, where she represented indigent criminal defendants in postconviction proceedings, and as a litigation associate in a Roswell, Georgia, law firm
Meet Sallie!
Sallie Zehna Starrett is the CEO of Brightpaths, a nonprofit dedicated to preventing child abuse in Athens and the surrounding area. Sallie is a proud Athens native who holds a BS in Child and Family Development from the University of Georgia. With almost 15 years experience in the non-profit sector, her favorite part of her work is serving alongside a team of people who have a shared burden to accomplish a meaningful mission. Sallie’s career focuses on child welfare and family preservation, and she’s had the joy of seeing countless families reach their goals of reunification, improved relationship, parenting breakthrough, and more. She and her husband are foster parents who champion the reunification of families. They have 3 young children who keep them busy and laughing! Together, they love spending time together cheering on the Dawgs, trying new Athens restaurants, and playing outside!
Meet Daydrianna!
We are very excited to have Daydrianna Hefner training as a Bio Mom Peer Mentor under Christina. Daydrianna is currently engaged and a mom to three amazing kids! Daydrianna is looking forward to using her experience to connect with other moms and support them on their own personal journeys. In her free time, she enjoys spending quality time with her friends and family and practicing her passion for makeup and hair.
Meet Grace!
Grace is one of eight students interning with us this year. Grace is a Master of Social Work student at UGA with a B.S. in Psychology and Human Development and Family Sciences. Grace is Mary's Executive Assistant, working to complete administrative tasks, coordinate intern activities, and manage donor relations. She is excited for this opportunity to expand community partnerships and work to uplift families and mothers in their reunification journeys. In the future, Grace plans to become a clinical therapist working with adolescents struggling with mental health. When not working, Grace likes to spend her time reading, practicing yoga, and hanging out with friends.
Meet Morgan!
Morgan is the Foster Care Intern for Moms Adopting Moms this spring. She will focus on tasks such as peer mentoring, resource connection and obtainment for foster parents, and creating a foster parent digital guidebook. She is excited to support and connect with foster families! Morgan is a first year MSW student at UGA with a degree in psychology and minor in child advocacy. She is passionate about supporting children and families wherever she can. In her free time, Morgan loves exploring new cities, reading, hiking, and taking her dog on new adventures!
Meet Anna!
Anna was born and raised in Cumming, GA. She is a first year Master of Social Work student with a B.S. in Human Development and Family Science. After she graduates she hopes to serve immigrants - specifically minorities, and older adult populations. In her free time, she likes to knit and read. Anna will be the Journey Home App Project Manager at Moms Adopting Moms working with our friends at Microsoft to create an incredible resource gathering and progress tracking app for our bio moms that will utilize AI and machine learning to make each moms journey unique to her efforts in reunifying with her children.
Meet Jessica!
Jessica is a first-year graduate student in the University of Georgia's Master of Social Work program! She is from Fairfield, Connecticut and went Elon University for her undergrad, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Sociology. After graduating Elon, Jessica spent the past year working as a Registered Behavior Technician at an elementary school. In her free time, she enjoys reading, painting and listening to music. Jessica is the Mentor Assistant for Bio and Foster Moms!
Meet Emily!
Emily is from Fayetteville, GA but spent this past year in Jasper, GA working as a preschool teacher. In her free time she likes to read and play with her dogs. Emily is a first year Masters of Social Work student at the University of Georgia. Her undergrad degree is in Psychology from Kennesaw State University. She will be the Partner Coordinator for Moms Adopting Moms.
Meet Lexi!
Lexi is majoring in social work at the University of Georgia. She is passionate about helping children and individuals associated with the foster care system in the United States as well as improving the system in general. She started interning for Moms Adopting Moms at the beginning of this year. Lexi helps promote Moms Adopting Moms social media pages by creating content and interviewing moms. You can see some of her interviews in the "Our Stories" section of the website.
Meet Mila!
Mila is a first year Masters of Social Work student at the University of Georgia. She also attended UGA for her undergrad and majored in Psychology with minors in American Sign Language and Personal Health and Well-Being. She will be the Recovery, Re-Entry, and Mental Health Partner Intern. She will be working with different agencies to strengthen relationships while working to create a comprehensive list of services available for our moms and dads.
Meet June!
June is a first year Masters of Social Work student at the University of Georgia and is hoping one day to become a clinical worker. In his free time, he likes to draw, workout, listen to K-pop, watch Korean shows on Netflix and call his friends. June is the fundraiser and grant coordinator intern at Moms Adopting Moms!
Meet Our Technology Service-Learning Team!
We are so lucky to have this service-learning team of UGA women to assist us in creating a prototype of our Journey Home App! They aim to make a fully interactive prototype that encourages moms in a clear and engaging way to help them through their reunification process. This app will be tailored to each mother's personal A to Z case plan with information relating to different resources in their area.
Meet Our Service-Learning Team for Board Development!
This wonderful service-learning team is comprised of UGA students David MacDonald, Olivia Humble, and Ashley Ferguson. This team has focused on supporting MAM's governance and board development! They are working to strengthen MAM's internal structure, streamline board responsibilities, and support future growth and success of our agency. Thank you teams for your support of Moms Adopting Moms!