Alumni Magazine & Dean's Report - I.U. School of Law - Indiana ...

Hope
Heartbreak
and
Many lawyers are passionate about their work, but Michele Jackson, ‘00, and her
IT IS NO SURPRISE THAT MICHELE JACKSON’S
PASSION COMES FROM HAVING VISITED
ORPHANAGES in Mexico, India, Honduras, Ukraine and
other countries throughout the world, seeing first-hand the
plight of children who are waiting for a home.
Jackson is founder of MLJ Adoptions, an Indianapolis-based
adoption agency that has facilitated hundreds of international and
domestic adoptions with American families. She’s also founder
of the Fatherless Foundation, a non-profit she established to
assist abandoned and orphaned children worldwide.
There’s certainly no shortage of children needing
help: UNICEF estimates that 143 million children in
the developing world—one in every 13—are orphans.
I U S C H O O L O F L AW S U M M E R A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E
Conflict, disease, poverty, and natural disasters, such as the
earthquake that struck Haiti on Jan. 12, all contribute to an
international crisis.
On a recent trip to Haiti in May, Jackson met with
orphanage directors and public officials who might be able
to assist in her helping clients who are interested in adopting
Haitian orphans.
“The earthquake devastation was overwhelming,” she
says. “Prior to the earthquake, there were an estimated 350,000
orphans and today there could be two to three times that.”
Inspired—and Inspiring The Anderson, Indiana native
traces her interest to service trips and study abroad experiences