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Hands Across The Water
Who is Hands Across The Water?

Hands Across The Water was started by Directors James and Kathleen Nelson initially as an adoption education resource organization. As international adoptive parents themselves, the beginning focus of the organization was to facilitate the pre-adoption and post-adoption process through education and information.

The path taken by Hands Across The Water's Directors has led them to becoming a fully licensed child placing agency in the state of Michigan. They continue to provide adoption education as the foundation to all their adoption services. Hands Across The Water prides itself in maintaining that all the adoption professionals affiliated with the agency have been touched by adoption in some way.

The Nelsons Director Kathleen Nelson, MSW, CSW, has personal and professional experience in adoption. As an adoptive parent of two children who were adopted internationally, the oldest being thirteen years old, she understands what it means to be a member of a transracial adoptive family from the parent’s and child’s perspective. Professionally, Kathleen has worked as an Adoption Specialist at a local private social service/foster care agency, Contractual International Adoption Social Worker for a number of Michigan adoption agencies, Foster Care Licensing and Placement Supervisor at a local private social service/foster care agency, and an Adoption Supervisor at a local private social service/foster care agency.

Assistant Director James Nelson, BBA, also has personal and professional experience in adoption. He, too, is an adoptive parent (James and Kathleen are married!) and understands the joys and difficulties of parenting transracially. James’ professional experience includes his work on the Washtenaw County Foster Care Review Board where he was the Vice-Chair for four years. In that capacity he saw the struggles of hundreds of children caught within “the system” which is his motivating factor in adoption work.

Both James and Kathleen’s professional and personal experience has given them an understanding of the adoption process, within Michigan and internationally, as well as an understanding of the skills adoptive parents need. They, along with their staff, are committed to preparing families in the best possible way to ensure the success of the adoptive family. Children are their highest concern and priority, which is evident in all they do.

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