Angels in - Pound Pup Legacy

Karen Caldwell
Representative David Vitter
Karen Caldwell serves as Director of the adoption
program at Catholic Charities of New Orleans.
During her 27 years of service, Karen has secured
over 500 domestic and international adoption
placements. She serves as president of the Louisiana
Adoption Coordination Board and will chair the
Louisiana adoption workshop conference this year.
Years ago, Karen helped to begin the register for
birth parents and adoptees in Louisiana and she has
completed over a hundred searches for adults
wishing to contact their birth parents. Karen is a
woman of tremendous humility who has embraced
her calling to minister in adoption as her life’s
endeavor. Going far beyond the call of duty, her
contributions to adoptive children and families are
immeasurable and we are extremely grateful to
have such a wonderful individual devoted to
adoption.
Beverly Lewis
Senator Mary Landrieu
Beverly Lewis first learned about the Kidsave
Summer Miracles program in the spring of 2000
when she offered to help her good friend Peggy
bring a group of special needs children from Tula,
Russia to Alexandria, LA. Single and with a
successful career in automotive sales, she simply
wanted to help advance the program and had no
plans of her own to adopt. Little did she know that
God had something else in mind. By the end of
their six week stay, Beverly was making plans to
adopt a sibling group of three, ages 11, 8, and 7.
Three years later, Beverly is the proud mother of
Anna (14), Howard (11) and Ty (10). In addition, she
has become a foster mother to an eight-year-old
girl. Gone are the days when Beverly had only to
worry about herself or the number of sales she
made each week. She now founds great joy in
providing for and parenting her precious children.
Maine
Jennifer Sylvester
Representative Susan Collins
Jennifer Sylvester is a generous, compassionate, and
caring person who, as an employee of Maine
Adoption Placement Service (MAPS) since 1979, has
worked tirelessly for more than 20 years to unite
children with permanent, loving families. To
complete her own family, she adopted her
daughter, Susannah, a child with special needs from
the foster care system. From volunteering her time
performing general office duties at MAPS to
becoming the Director of the MAPS Houlton,
Maine, office, Jennifer has worked endlessly to
recruit and educate adoptive families. Her first-hand
knowledge, experience, and support guided
hundreds of families through the adoption process.
Although her focus and passion has always been to
find families for children in Maine’s foster care
system and in the United States, Jennifer has also
helped find permanent homes for waiting children
in other countries. Most recently, she traveled to
West Africa to develop a much-needed program to
find loving families for children orphaned by the
civil war in Sierra Leone. Under her direction, the
Houlton MAPS office has grown to include the
development and supervision of adoption programs
in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Ecuador. Jennifer plans
to retire soon and is long overdue for recognition
for her years of helping the children in Maine, the
U.S. and across the globe find their forever families.
Her work humbles me. It gives me great pleasure to
provide such well-deserved recognition as becoming
my 2003 Angel in Adoption .
Maryland
Kim and Carol Cormany
Representative Roscoe Bartlett
Kim and Carol Cormany have always dreamed of
being parents and sharing their love with a child.
They did not, however, know that they would be
sharing that love with five – soon to be six –
children who arrived through adoption. The
Cormanys decided to adopt in February of 1999.
Carol had always wanted a baby, but God had
other plans, she said. Natasha (15) and Katya (14)
wanted a mom and dad to do something as simple
as taking them for a walk When the Cormanys
heard that, their hearts were captured. They
decided to adopt a baby as well as the two girls.
The minute they saw their new parents, the girls
started saying “Momma, Papa” and that was it. The
tiny love that had captured their hearts, instantly
blossomed into a strong and fierce devotion. The
new family then went to meet little Dan who was
19 months at the time of adoption. Their first
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