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Truth First. Decisions Second. Children Always.
Why this matters to you
• I was adopted as a child, so I understand what your child might not be saying.
• I trained foster parents, so I know what your agency covers and, just as importantly, what it doesn’t.
• I served as VP of the state foster and adoptive parent association, so I know how the system works from the inside and who to contact when things break down.
• I am also a foster and adoptive parent, so I know how challenging things can get for a marriage by the fourth month.
• All of this is why I can tell you what to expect next, not just in theory, but in real, specific terms.
Low Tide Lighthouse is not a business idea. It is what all of that built toward.
I built every one of these programs from what I needed and did not have.
Low Tide Lighthouse didn’t start with a business plan. It started from my own experience of seeing how good intentions can run into a system that needs much more preparation than anyone warns you about.
I felt called to foster. I thought love would be enough. I said yes whenever children needed a home. I kept saying yes even after I was stretched too thin, because no one told me that capacity is real and limited.
I wasn’t ready for the weight that sneaks up on you until it feels overwhelming. The endless appointments. The trauma behaviors. Figuring out the system. Fighting advocacy battles alone. The grief of loving children who might leave. The unique loneliness of doing work that few people around you truly understand. At first, adrenaline kept me going. Then exhaustion set in. Eventually, my body just gave out, and I felt drained in ways that sleep couldn’t fix. I needed therapy. I needed boundaries. I needed support I hadn’t set up, because I didn’t know I would need it.
That experience is why I do this work the way I do.
Foster care doesn’t just challenge your parenting. It tests your nerves, your marriage, your sense of self, and your limits, all at the same time, often before you realize it. You can feel called and still not be ready. You can care deeply and still need real preparation. You can love with everything you have and still need structure to get through it.
Low Tide Lighthouse is here so families don’t have to learn all these lessons the hard way, alone, like I did.
“I didn’t just enter the foster and adoption world. I lived the realities that shape it...” Me
I didn’t just do this work and walk away. These children are my family. I walk this path every single day!
Between 2015 and 2019, we fostered and adopted four children, and we have a bonus child who will always be part of our family.
I also understand this experience firsthand. My mother was in foster care, and my grandparents adopted me. I know what it’s like to be the child who feels out of place or doesn’t always belong, not just the adult helping a child through it.
This isn’t just background. It shapes how I see and do everything.
Pictured: My time when I was VP of our state association board. Me with Susan Ramirez (CEO of Austin Angels), volunteering at various events and me at our annual conference.
This approach comes from more than ten years of hands-on work, leadership, and policy experience at every level of the child welfare system, from county to federal.
2015–2019 - Licensed Foster Parent & Adoptive Parent, State of Alabama. 4 adoptions and 1 bonus child
2017–2024 - Founder & President, County Foster & Adoptive Parent Association, Alabama
2018 - TIPS-MAPP (Trauma-Informed Partnering for Safety and Permanence – Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) 2-Week Intensive State Certification, Alabama
2018–2020 - Quality Assurance Board Member, DHR, QA Board, Alabama
2018–2024 - Foster Parent Voice and County Liaison, County Supervisor Meetings, County Child Welfare Department, Alabama
2019–2024 - Vice President, Alabama Foster & Adoptive Parent Association
2019 - Federal Review Participant, Federal Foster Care Review, Alabama
2020–2022 - Director of Foster Parent Relations, Tuscaloosa Angels
2021–2024 - Recruitment Specialist - APAC, Alabama
2025–Present - Founder & Lead Facilitator, Low Tide Lighthouse — Colorado Springs, CO
I support individuals and families going through foster care, adoption, and kinship care. My guidance is based on real-life experience and years spent in the system, not just ideas from a textbook.
I help families slow down, ask better questions, and see what these paths really involve before a child is affected by an adult’s uncertainty. I support foster and adoptive parents who feel worn out, helping them reconnect with themselves, whether that means crying, screaming, or just having someone sit with them on their hardest days. I have been there myself and wished for someone to sit with me. I am not here to promise everything will be okay, but to be with you through your hardest and happiest moments. Foster care and adoption are never easy. Part of my work is helping people who have lived in survival mode for years finally learn how to feel safe again. During our conversations, I guide simple practices for calming the nervous system—like grounding, breathing, and stillness—so healing can happen in the body as well as the mind. I also help families moving toward adoption understand exactly what they are entitled to and what to expect next.
Families who work with me get more than just information. They leave with a clear sense of where they are, what they need, and what a sustainable life in foster or adoptive care looks like for them personally.
This work is not therapy or legal advice. It is about education, guidance, and honest conversation, without hiding the hard parts families face. I am not a therapist, and what I offer is meant to support, not replace, professional mental health care.
If you are thinking about foster care or adoption and want real preparation before you commit, there is a program designed for your situation.
If you are already in this journey and feeling overwhelmed, you do not have to go through it alone.
If you are unsure where to begin, let’s start by talking.