Antoinette Sumter-Cotman has been a licensed foster parent for 29 years and is a mother of seven children, including three adopted sons. She is retired from the City University of New York (CUNY) and is President of Share Family Support, a parent led foster/adoptive parent support and advocacy group in Queens.

Deborah Francis is the owner of Integra Accounting and Bookkeeping Services. Deborah earned her BBA at CUNY Baruch College and her Master of Business Administration degree with a focus on forensic accounting. When not working on her business, Deborah loves spending time with her only grandbaby, in her gardens, traveling and reading.

Chet Jackson is an adoptee, an adoptive father of three teens, and a birth father of two. He is also a former adoption professional and a former foster parent, adoptive father of three teens. Chet lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

McDonald Morris was born in Harlem and raised in Brooklyn. Mac is an adult adoptee, black queer performance artist, educator and movement enthusiast now based in Ithaca. His artistic, professional and philanthropic work emphasizes critical-consciousness and love as essential ingredients for empowerment, positive transformation, and optimal well-being.

Sarah Gotowka was born in South Korea and adopted as an infant. She grew up in the suburbs of Rochester New York with her Polish-Italian Roman Catholic family. Sarah has been working for AFFCNY for over three years as a family support specialist, youth adoptee mentor, and trans-racial adoption discussion group facilitator.

Events will be held in the AFFCNY Network; a free support network for New York’s adoptive, foster and kinship communities. Please register to join us for the whole Discussions on the Intersections of Race and Adoption series!