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Dwyatt Gantt
Executive Director
Nothing I have ever done has been more fulfilling
than to see a child that needs a home find a
home that needs a child. And we see it
happen many hundreds of times
each year. God has wonderfully blessed us
and allowed us to be in the very forefront of international
adoption. Annually we assist about 800
families all over the United States and other countries as
well to adopt that wonderful child that seems so
especially made for them. It is to us a position of trust and
responsibility - a sacred trust to us which prescribes
the way we must carry on this
work. With integrity and service. There is a saying
emphasizing the necessity of walking on two feet. Our two feet
are giving homes to children who can be adopted and health and
hope to those who cannot. We are happy to be
partners with you in either of these.
Melody Zhang
Associate Director
Melody was born in China,
raised in Beijing and had been involved with China adoptions before the
beginning of Children's Hope International / China's
Children Division in 1992. Since 1993
she has given vigorous and
compassionate leadership to CHI as
Associate Director in St. Louis while traveling
frequently to China as well as Russia, Thailand,
Guatemala and Colombia. Because of her fervent
compassion for children that are older or with special medical
needs, literally hundreds of such children have been adopted
and found loving homes. She is equally well
known for the love and attention she gives to "our"
adoptive families. Even while working
full-time at CHI, Melody completed her MSW at
George Warren Brown School of Social Work in
Washington University in St. Louis. Melody is fully and
passionately involved in every aspect of the work - including
foster care and Helping Hands projects in China and
everywhere there is an opportunity. She and
her husband Kevin are parents of three adopted teenagers
and two biological daughters, Lian and Angela-. Melody and
Kevin and their children are living in Beijing for a period of
time to oversee the growing work of adoption and aid in China.
Gloria Akers
Director of Intake
Gloria is one of our senior
staff members who has been with CHI since 1995. . She is
devoted to her work and everyone involved with it and with
every single aspect of your adoption from the first call to
application and with seeing that you get the information,
the resource, or the person you need. She will be there when
you need her.
Ann Tollefson
China Program Director
Karolyn Tucker
Travel Director
Karolyn is married to Michael
and the mother of Michele and Mia, both adopted from China.
Shortly after adopting Michele in 1995, Karolyn began
working for CHI and is a senior CHI staff member.
Karolyn has experience in dossier preparation, the
waiting process and post-adoption paperwork such as adoption
legalization and citizenship.
At this time, Karolyn is concentrating her efforts on
working with families in the travel stage.
John Sun
Web Enhancement / China Team
John came to the U.S. from
China in 1990. He did his research as a visiting scholar for 3
years. Afterward he completed an M.A. degree at the University
of Missouri - St. Louis. In China, he received his B.A. in
English and a degree in law. He is responsible for web
enhancements so our website will be ranked high in natural
search as well as overseeing the pay-per-click issues and
tracking as
well as doing our English/Chinese documents' translation and
liaison for the orphan sponsorship program to China. John
is married to Lihua, who is the owner/director of Home
Montessori Day Care Center, and they have two girls, Jennifer
and Julie.
Tina Qualls
China Team/Program Coordinator
Tina started as a volunteer in
August of 1996 while waiting to adopt Tori from China. She
became a permanent employee in September of 1997 as Children's
Hope accountant, having 20 years of experience in the field.
Beginning in the year 2000, she became an integral part of the
China team, coordinating and promoting the adoption of older
children and children with special needs, assisting families
in preparing their paperwork, preparing referrals, answering
inquiries and assisting with travel preparations. In 2002,
Larry and Tina adopted Eli from the China waiting children’s
program. Tina says, I feel that working for Children’s Hope is
my mission field. Seeing children find a home is one of God’s
greatest gifts to me.
Rebecca
China Team/Social
Worker
Rebecca joined the CHI team in May 2004. As a part of
the China team, she is responsible for home-study and post
placement reports and is in charge of the post placement
process. She is currently finishing her Masters Degree
in Social work and is scheduled to graduate from Saint Louis
University in December 2004. Rebecca has six years
experience in the social work field and has worked in a
variety of settings. Prior to joining the CHI team, she
worked with children and families through the Department of
Mental Health and served as a Disability Counselor.
Rebecca says
she is blessed to be part of CHI's wonderful mission of
providing homes to children at risk through out the world.
She looks forward to her future with CHI and is
committed to bringing families together.
Roxanne Wang
China Team
Julia Wheeler China Team
Leslie Broome
China Team
Toni
Lynch China Team
Toni
Lynch joined CHI in November 2005. She actively makes sure
the 1400 + post placements a year are accurate and on time
to travel to China. She is also the administrative
assistant to the team as well as assists with the Waiting
Children Program. Prior to CHI, Toni was a private
caretaker for the elderly and a huge advocate for the
homeless in the states in which she lived. While that made
a difference, “I have always had a heart for kids and had
been praying for an opportunity to join God in His work
helping children. I wanted to focus the remainder of my life
on something of much greater value and importance. Nothing
could be more important than saving the hope and future of
an orphan." Toni is a single mother of 3 children and is
very involved in their sports and school activities.
Yuri Kudinov
Director of Humanitarian Aid/ Russia Program Consultant
Yuri
and his family arrived in St. Louis from Siberia in September,
1998. He started in Children’s Hope’s
Russian adoption program six months after coming to America.
In October, 2003 Yuri became the director of humanitarian aid
for all the countries CHI serves.
His heart for the plight of the orphan finds its roots in his
father’s childhood in an orphan house during WWII. After
earning a degree in history from Tomsk State University, Yuri
founded the first nonpolitical children's organization
registered in The Soviet Union, The Tomsk Hobbitt-Center,
which now serves more than 3700 children. He also worked as
the executive director of the International Federation of
Children's Organizations in Moscow.
Yuri
and his wife Olga, have two children and live in St. Louis.
More on CHI humanitarian aid:
www.chifoundation.org
 Rebecca
Havens
Humanitarian Aid
Valerie Trim
Humanitarian Aid
Nichole Nymoen Deal
Social Services / Colombia Program
Nichole
joined CHI’s Russian Team in February, 2001 and then worked as
director of the Russia Program until February, 2005. She came
to us with over 3½ years of experience working in domestic
adoptions and a total of 9 years working with children and
families, including at-risk, abused and neglected
children. She has a Masters Degree in Social Work from
the University of Missouri – Columbia.
Nichole
also has a lot of personal experience in adoption as well, as
she was adopted domestically at the age of 2 months. Nichole’s
parents were always very open with her about her adoption and
therefore adoption has been a positive part of her life.
Nichole loves working in a field that is so near and dear to
her heart! She is very happy to be a part of such a wonderful
organization helping to create forever families!
Nichole is married to Justin
Deal and they are the proud parents of a son and daughter.
Pam Bischoff
China Program
Coordinator
Pam started working for
Children's Hope International in August 1999 helping to
maintain the two CHI websites. In 2000, there was an opening
in the Russia Program so she transferred to that program and
enjoyed working with the families to prepare their dossier,
assisting in travel and working with the Operation Hope
Program and Waiting Children.
In December, 2004 Pam had the
opportunity to join the China Team and help with the Waiting
Children. She is delighted to be working with the
wonderful families and children from China.
Pam has 2 daughters adopted
from China in 1998 and 1996 and is well
aware of all the obstacles that families have to go through
for successful international adoption.
Janiece Wieschhaus
Russia Team/Program Coordinator
Janiece joined the Children's Hope family in June of 2004.
She comes to Children's Hope with six years of experience in
international adoption. Janiece has a master's degree in
social work from the University of Missouri-Columbia. In
addition to international adoption she has worked in child
protective services, as a school social worker and as a
private therapist.
Adoption
holds a special place in Janiece's heart. Janiece and
her husband, Neal, have three children, two who were adopted
from Russia. She believes that every child deserves a
loving, stable home and sees international adoption as her
mission field.
Arati Maleku
Russia and Nepal Team /Social Worker
Born and raised
in Nepal, Arati comes to CHI with a strong background of
social work in developing countries. Arati joined the CHI
Russia team in June 2004. She is also working with our Nepal
program and is the contact person for this developing program
in our St. Louis office.
Arati received her Master's Degree in Social Work from
Washington University in St. Louis and her Bachelor’s Degree
in Social Work from St. Xavier’s Campus, Kathmandu,
Nepal. Before coming to the US in 2002, she worked with
children and families including street children, at-risk
children, and mentally challenged children. She has
several publications in the area of women and children in
Nepal. During her undergraduate education in social work in
Nepal, she explored and savored the prospect of working as a
radio journalist. She also developed and broadcast several
public service announcements and radio programs on
contemporary social issues.
She has a strong interest in international adoption issues.
Arati is happy to be a part of the CHI family dedicated to
promote the lives of at-risk children throughout our world.
Nicky Losse
Vietnam Program Director/ Social Worker
Nicky received her master's
degree in Social Work in 1997 from St. Louis University. Nicky
and her husband Mike were married in 1996. She says about
herself: "I was originally drawn to work in adoption because
I myself am adopted. I think adoption is a wonderful gift to
a child and I know there are many children out there that
are waiting for families." At CHI, Nicky's job duties
encompass Director of
the Vietnam program and she also does home studies and post
placement visits for families who are adopting in the St.
Louis area. Nicky has traveled to Vietnam many times for her
work at CHI. She has fallen in love with the children and
country of Vietnam.
Sharon Turner
Vietnam and Ethiopian Programs
Anna Rister
Kazakhstan Program
Children’s Hope International’s director for the Kazakhstan program is Anna Rister.
She is a native of Saint-Petersburg, Russia where she
spent the last five years as an interpreter/ translator
for a non-profit organization that worked with children in
orphanages and the elderly.
“I have seen how kids live in orphanages and I
know how much they appreciate even a little bit of attention,”
Rister said. “I am proud to work with CHI to
help the little ones find loving homes.”
Rister
and her husband moved to the United States in August, 2003. She has her
bachelors in Database Processing and Management, from Saint Petersburg
Technical College.
Dianna Briner
Chief Financial Officer
She and her husband Allen have
four children, Michelle, Craig, Emily and Andrew. Dianna says,
"Our life is kept full of excitement and activity with our
involvement in church and every sports activity known to man."
Dianna has over 28 years of
experience in the finance field.
Working for Children's Hope
International has been a blessing to see wonderful people
dedicated to placing precious children in loving homes. I
think it is great the way CHI stays involved with our families
and children to form strong bonds and cultural education.
 Galina
Kharitonova
Financial
 Jessica
Hill Executive Assistant
Cory
Barron
Public Relations
Born and
raised in Kansas, Barron was a television-journalist for over
20 years. From 1995 until 2003 he was the morning and
noon weather anchor for KMOV-TV in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior
to his position in St. Louis, from 1991 to 1995, he was the
noon and five p.m. weather anchor for KWCH-TV in Wichita,
Kansas. And from 1984 to 1991, Barron was a feature reporter
and the 5/6 & 10 weekday weather anchor at KFSM-TV in Fort
Smith, Arkansas.
Barron is an adoptive parent of twin girls from China. He and
his wife Marlene adopted through Children’s Hope International
in 1999.
http://www.childrenshope.com/Barrons.htm
Read all about the Barron’s miracle adoption.
 Andrei
Skurtu
Operations
Manager
Peter Podlesnyy IT
 Yuriy
Lukinov
IT
 Vincent
Zerbonia IT
Jeff
Gao
Webmaster / Designer
Jeff taught graphic design and
photography at Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts in China for 12
years before coming to America. After coming to the
U.S. Jeff took the Designing and Implementing Web Solutions
Training Program in USA. Jeff said, "I like working as
webmaster and design artist for Children's Hope International
because it means helping children".
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