Jeanne has an extensive and exclusive practice in the area of adoptions and is a member of the prestigious Academy of Adoption and Reproductive Attorneys and the Florida Adoption Council. For many years in a row, Jeanne has been named in The Best Lawyers in America, Florida’s Legal Elite, and Florida Super Lawyer, including as one of the top 100 lawyers in the State of Florida. Over her career, Jeanne has won several prestigious awards including the U.S. Congressional Angel in Adoption Award, the Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Small Business Leader of the Year, the Florida Adoption Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Hillsborough Association for Women Lawyers Achievement Award, the Tobias Simon Pro Bono Service Award and inclusion in the Martindale-Hubbell Bar Register of Preeminent Women Lawyers. Jeanne has been appointed to serve on the Adoption Law Certification Committee, the Judicial Nominating Procedures Committee, the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit Court Nominating Committee and the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission. Additionally, Jeanne has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida College of Law where she taught Adoption Law and Procedure for six years. Jeanne is rated AV Preeminent by Martindale-Hubbell, signifying that the legal community ranks her “at the highest level of professional excellence.”

Meredith Shepard joined Heart of Adoptions in August 2013 as the Adoptive Parent Coordinator. She works closely with waiting adoptive families handling day-to-day needs and assisting with matching adoptive families to birth families. In July of 2020 Meredith became the Director of Programs for the agency.  As of April of 2022 Meredith is the Executive Director for Heart of Adoptions. She is responsible to coordinate and supervise agency staff, volunteers, and handle day-to-day operational duties. Meredith has worked in the area of social work for over 20 years and has experience working within the fields of child development, adoption, foster care, and developmental disabilities.

Meredith graduated with honors from Eckerd College with a Bachelor of Arts in Human Development and Walden University with a Master of Science in Non-Profit Management & Leadership. She was also a Licensed Massage Therapist prior to obtaining her degree. While born in Ohio, which will always be home, she is also a die-hard hot weather fan and loves nothing more than cruising in her Jeep with the top down and the music loud! She has a son in college and has recently added a new fur-baby “Voodoo” to her home. Meredith can typically be found at Disney on the weekend or enjoying a camping trip and a nice kayak trip down a river when the weather is nice.

Gabriela Nuñez joined Heart of Adoptions, Inc. in June 2006 as an Adoption Caseworker Assistant.  Gabriela is now the Program Supervisor for the Naples satellite office.  She works closely with birth mothers handling their day-to-day needs, monitoring their medical care and overall well-being.  Additionally, she coordinates the interaction between adoptive parents and birth parents.  She has previous experience working with youth in a parenting program, as well as experience in both domestic and international adoptions, specifically working internationally with Guatemala.

Gabriela obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2013.

Natalie Londono joined Heart of Adoptions, Inc. in December 2012 as an Adoption Casework Assistant. Natalie was later promoted to Adoption Caseworker and began working closely with birth mothers handling their day-to-day needs, monitoring their medical care and overall well-being. As of March 2022, Natalie has accepted the role of Senior Caseworker.  Additionally, Natalie conducts home studies and post-placement supervision in the Orlando area.

Natalie obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Social Work at Florida Gulf Coast University in 2013.

Amy Nickerson joined Heart of Adoptions in June 2018 as an Adoption Caseworker. She works closely with the birth mothers handling their day-to-day needs, monitoring medical care and overall well-being. She also conducts home studies and post placement supervision. Her prior experience is 10 years in the child welfare system as a child protective investigator, senior child protective investigator and dependency case manager in both Florida and Massachusetts. She has two children adopted internationally from Guatemala and is herself and adoptee.

Amy graduated from University of Massachusetts Boston in 1999 with a B.S. in Psychology and in 2000 with a M.A. Certification in Forensic Services. She is currently enrolled at University of Massachusetts Boston obtaining a master’s level Addiction Counselor Education Program (ACEP) certificate.

After living in New York for 22 years, Hayley moved to Florida where she graduated from The University of Tampa in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and a Minor in Communications. After working at a media agency straight out of college and realizing that wasn’t for her, she landed a job where she was able to fulfill her passion of working with children and helping others as a Case Manager in Hillsborough County.

After obtaining her Child Welfare Case Manager Certification and working in Hillsborough County for 2 years, she accepted a role in Pinellas County where she worked as a Case Manager Supervisor overseeing a team of 5 case managers and about 400 children in the Dependency System. Being able to be a part of a life-changing opportunity for adoptive parents and the joy of seeing children find their forever families led her to this position at Heart of Adoptions as an Intake Coordinator and Older Child Caseworker.

Shannon Gayden joined Heart of Adoptions, inc. in October 2022 as the Home Study and Post-Placement Coordinator. Shannon has committed her entire career to making a difference in the lives of children. Her experience is in service based programs which are family-centered and support the family dynamics. Her background includes; working as a Child Protection Investigator and being a Math Interventionists for grades K-8.

Shannon graduated with honors from Springfield College with a Bachelor of Science in Human Services. She is a member of the International Honor Society in Social Services-Pi Gamma Mu. Her passion lies in working with families through models of anti-bias practices and cultural sensitivities to help ensure that all children have a stable, loving, and permanent home. It is part of her nature to care for others, helping to make their lives better and happier.

Shannon is a Floridan. She has a son in the Marines. She enjoys giving back to the community by providing tutoring services to at risk children.

Julia joined Heart of Adoptions, Inc. in July 2019 as the Marketing and Community Outreach Coordinator. In July 2020, she took on Caseworker Assistant responsibilities with the Home Study and Adoptive Parent Departments. As of February 2022, Julia is now the Adoptive Parent Coordinator! Julia loves working directly with adoptive families, helping them complete their family!

Julia graduated with honors from Towson University with a bachelor’s degree in Family and Human Services.

Elizabeth originally joined Heart of Adoptions in 2008 as an Administrative Assistant. After the birth of her son, she took some time off to be a stay-at-home mom. She then returned in 2016 as an Adoptive Parent Casework Assistant, primarily assisting the Home Study Department; she now primarily assists the Adoptive Parent Department.

In her time off, Elizabeth stays busy watching her son play baseball and taking her daughter to swim practice. She and her family live in Brandon, Florida, and love trying out new restaurants, going to the beach, and having family movie nights on the couch.

Amy joined Heart of Adoptions Inc. in January 2016 in our Merritt Island office. Prior to this she was an Adoption Assistant for another Florida adoption agency and has worked in the industry for over 15 years. She works closely with birth mothers handling their day-to-day needs, monitoring their medical care and overall well-being. She graduated from Rockledge High School and has an AA degree from Brevard Community College. Amy has 3 children and uses her experiences as both an adoptee and an adoptive parents to serve and support our clients. She brings with her a wealth of knowledge

Erin was born and raised in Michigan.  She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology while attending Michigan State University. She also has a Master’s degree in Human Resources Development from Western Michigan University.

She and her husband love traveling and recently decided to make Orlando their new home.  In her spare time, she enjoys reading, baking, traveling, being out on the water, and hiking with pets.

Raquel and her family moved to Tampa from Los Angeles during the pandemic. According to Raquel, “I am interested in working for Heart of Adoptions because my husband and I are adoptive parents.”

She and her husband Jeffry have two children.  As avid beachgoers her entire family is  excited to explore everything the Tampa Bay Area has to offer.  We’re happy to welcome Raquel and her family to the team!

Shannon graduated from University of South Florida in 2007 with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology. She started working in Child Welfare immediately after graduating college as a Case Manager, where she worked with children and families involved in the Dependency System. Shannon worked as a Case Manager for four years before transitioning into a Family Adoption Specialist, where she worked with adoptive families looking to adopt from foster care. Shannon eventually worked for the lead agency providing technical assistance, support, and oversight to the case management agencies in Pinellas and Pasco Counties. Wanting to gain management experience, Shannon then went to work for a Hillsborough community based care organization as an Assistant Program Director where she was responsible for three case management supervisors, 25 case managers, and provided direct oversight on cases involving approximately 600 children in the Dependency System.

Shannon’s passion for adoption and creating families through adoption led her to Heart of Adoptions where she joined the adoptions team in February 2018 as a Senior Case Worker and Intake Coordinator. In her role, she worked directly with birth mothers conducting intake interviews, screening birth parents, and matched adoption applicants. In August 2021, Shannon transitioned into a new role writing child studies for the Community Based Care agencies. Shannon’s knowledge and background in Child Welfare and continued desire for children to find permanency serve her well in this role. Shannon hopes to grow this position by securing more contracts throughout the state of Florida.

James Taylor joined Heart of Adoptions, Inc. in June 2017 as the in-house IT support technician. James now acts as the Director of IT & Security. James’ primary duties include handling all aspects of being the Administrator for Office 365, our server, website, and systems. In addition, he is the liaison between our adoption agency and our legal team for all this technology related. He is responsible for hardware and software-related issues.

Kristin joined Heart of Adoptions, Inc. in February 2020 as the Accounting and Executive Assistant. Kristin graduated from the University of South Florida with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She brings over ten years of administrative experience to our team. As an adoptive parent of two wonderful sons, Kristin is passionate about adoption and loves her role with Heart of Adoptions, Inc.

Stephany was born and raised in Colombia.  She moved to Boston at the age of 17 to pursue her education. She graduated From Southern New Hampshire University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Stephany has years of experience working effectively in organizational management, strategic implementation, and company collaboration.  She is committed to helping others through team building.  Each day she contributes a wealth of knowledge and skills as part of the beautiful process of changing lives.

Janice joined Heart of Adoptions in Feburary 2015, when our Broward County satellite office opened. Prior to that she did freelance work for our agency on an as-needed basis. She acts as an agency representative and handles consents, releases, discharges, notaries, general office and administrative tasks. She graduated from Broward College in 2003 with an AA degree. Janice was born in Broward County and has never lived elsewhere. She has four children and uses those experiences to relate to both birth and adoptive families. She has been on the school PTA board for 4 years, a Girl Scout Leader for 7 and a school volunteer for 30 years.