Where Families Begin

Colorado Adoption Agency
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MEET OUR COLORADO ADOPTION AGENCY TEAM

Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado is a leader in the adoption community. We have been assisting birth parents, children, and adoptive parents in Colorado since 2002. Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado is a private, non-profit adoption agency licensed by the state. Our staff has a genuine commitment to providing an empathetic, empowering, and progressive experience to all involved in the adoption process. The talented and experienced adoption professionals at Adoption and Surrogacy Choices of Colorado work cooperatively and persistently in an effort to ensure successful placements.

Christy Ikeler

Executive Director
Birth Parent Caseworker

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Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 20 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.

Brenda Hudson Retrum, BA

Director of Adoptive Parent Services
Home Study Provider

 

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Brenda’s passion for adoption was sparked when she adopted her two sons through private, domestic adoption. She has been working in adoption for over twenty-three years and it has always been her desire to give back to the process that created her family. In her work Brenda counsels birth parents and provides support and guidance to adoptive parents. For the past thirteen years, she has also worked as a contractor in international adoption, including assistance with the COA (Council on Accreditation) Hague accreditation for two agencies. She is an innovative advocate for her clients and encourages them to truly participate in and take charge of the life event of adoption, a process that will profoundly affect them. It is her belief that in an atmosphere of honesty, respect, and support, it is possible to experience the process with realistic expectations about the challenges and joys of adoption. Brenda is an adoption educator and trainer and works as a confidential intermediary for the Colorado courts, locating and contacting sought-after relatives (birth parents, adoptees, and birth siblings). She has served on the Boards of Directors for several local adoption agencies and volunteers her time to Gift of Adoption. A Colorado native, she is an avid runner, loves doing yoga, enjoys reading, and creates jewelry. Brenda resides in Golden, Colorado, with her husband, her two sons, and Carmen the labradoodle.

Stephanie Walker, MSW

Child Placement Supervisor
Home Study Provider

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Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor.  Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam.  Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field.  Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001.  Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families.  Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.

Cassidie Reiman

Birth Parent Case Worker
Home Study Provider
Case Worker for Gestational Carriers
Part-Time Office Manager

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Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!

Nicole Ferlito

Paralegal
Project Manager

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Nicole is thrilled to be on the Adoption Choices team! With previous adoption experience she understands the importance of working with people in a more intimate capacity. It takes all members of the triad to help assist with a positive adoption experience on all ends–both Expecting Parents and Hopeful Adoptive Parents. With a BA in Women’s Studies, she brings patience, strong interpersonal and communication skills, and the ability to empathize without judgment. Nicole received her Paralegal Studies Certification in 2020 and is learning so much on the legal side of adoptions.

Nicole is a Chicago Native and coming from a big, traditional Italian family, she understands the importance of love, family, and relationships. Outside of work, she enjoys, traveling as much as possible, attending concerts, and snowboarding, hiking, or camping in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Nicole aspires to always be hands on and helping in any way that she can, by creating a supportive environment for others around her.

Todd Bright-Frare

Todd Bright-Frare

Home Study Provider

Susan Merten

Susan Merten

Home Study Provider

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