AAAA's staff is committed to serving and supporting adoptive and foster parents.  The motivating force behind our staff's work is the satisfaction of uniting children with loving, safe and permanent families.

You can reach any member of AAAA's staff by calling 651.659.0460 or toll-free 888.840.4084.  For general inquiries about AAAA, adoption or foster care, contact us.

Marquita Stephens
President & CEO
stephens@afadopt.org
As the executive director of AAAA, Stephens oversees fundraising, manages agency expansion and works to build successful recruitment, Waiting Child adoption, private adoption, foster care and support services.

Stephens has been a community builder for more than 25 years.  Before joining AAAA, she served as a director of the Heart of America United Way in Kansas City, Mo. and for the United Way of Allegheny County.

Stephens holds a master's of public administration degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor's of arts degree in urban and environmental studies from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland.  She currently serves on the board of directors for the Our Children Our Future organization and is an advisory board member for the Metro State University School for Social Work, St. Paul, Minn.  She is also active in School District 833.

Renita Wilson, MSW, LICSW
Program Director
rwilson@afadopt.org
Wilson manages AAAA's social work practice.  She oversees adoption and foster care resource workers as well as manages the agency's private adoption practice.  Wilson holds a master's degree of social work and a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minn.

In 2003 Wilson was promoted to the position of program director.  Prior to becoming the program director, Wilson worked for two years as an adoption resource worker.  Before joining the AAAA team, Wilson began her experience in social work with the Amherst Wilder Foundation in St. Paul, Minn.  In addition to working with the children and families served by Wilder's residential facility and Child Guidance Clinic, Wilson participated in collaborative projects with Merck Community Services and Ramsey County Child Protection.

Dr. Robert L. Stephens,D. Min., M.P.A.
Manager, Education & Community Engagement
rstephens@afadopt.org
Doctor Robert L. Stephens is Community Education and Community Engagement Project Manager for the African American Adoption Agency. He is responsible for recruiting adoptive families and developing community awareness around issues of child safety and permanency.

Dr. Stephens has been involved with family consultation for the past twenty years; he was certified in 1990 by the Family 2000 Project of the National Council of Churches to develop family ministries in churches. He is certified by the Minnesota Child Welfare Training System in Family Centered Assessment/Intervention: Family Group Decision Making Facilitation. For the past five years he has worked to support churches and community groups in their efforts to organize African American communities to create permanency for children and prevent out-of-home placement. He has developed A Community Caring for Its Children. This initiative was created in response to the crisis of out-of-home placement and the disproportionate number of African American children in the foster care system. The program focuses on the strengths of African American families by utilizing congregational ministries and other community groups to create awareness about families developing nurturing and safe permanency plans for children. Dismantled family systems, toxic environmental influences and limited resources have weakened the nuclear families ability to raise children safely. The intent of this initiative is to increase the parenting capacity of custodial families to nurture children to the age of accountability safely. The program goal is to reconnect custodial families with extended family and community resources. He has facilitated meetings, group and community forums in his role as a recruiter, community education and engagement outreach worker for the African American Adoption Agency.

Dr. Stephens has developed the Leap of Faith Calendar, for the past two years, working with older Minnesota Waiting Children who want to be adopted. Through child specific recruitment, he has worked with children and families to place children, especially large sibling groups. He has interviewed families and written home studies of families preparing for adoption. Through targeted recruitment he has brought attention to children available for adoption to African American communities. He has served as the pastor of several churches, taught at seminaries and bible colleges and led workshops across the country. As a former, well respected pastor, he is able to negotiate the cultural terrain of community and religious groups with relative ease. He has worked with faith based groups to develop organizational capacity, facilitating non-profit management courses at a faith based incubator in Pittsburgh, PA.

Dr. Stephens holds a Bachelor of Science degree from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University of Greensboro, North Carolina; the Masters of Divinity from Virginia Union University School of Theology of Richmond, Virginia; the Masters of Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and the Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary of Dayton, Ohio.

Resource Workers
AAAA adoption and foster care resource workers interview, qualify, train and support families.  These individuals manage day-to-day contact with as many as 20 families and supervise post-adoptive support for many more.  Each is specially trained to match children with permanent families.

Tara Marshall
tmarshall@afadopt.org
Marshall has over 13 years of human service experience.  Prior to accepting the position as Adoption Resource Worker, Marshall was a cultural diversity trainer and advocate with the South Washington County School District.  Her most impressive accomplishments were made over the four years she was employed at Thad Wilderson and Associates, a rule 20 mental health clinic located on University Avenue in St. Paul.  Marshall provided Multi-Systemic Therapy and crisis intervention to families whose children were involved in the juvenile justice system.  During her employment with Thad Wilderson, Marshall developed and facilitated a pilot youth group to help teens build character, community and success. 

Being an adoptee herself, Marshall feels that her position with the African American Adoption Agency has brought her full circle.  She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire.

LaCresha Payne
lpayne@afadopt.org
Payne has 4 years of experience working with adolescents and their families. She has co- facilitated racial dialogues with adolescents, provided academic support and guidance, and managed adolescents who were on probation. Prior to accepting the position as a Foster Care Worker at African American Adoption Agency, she was a Food Support Outreach Specialist for the Minnesota Department of Human Services in the Office of Economic Opportunity for over a year. Congruently, she has been a Juvenile Correctional Officer for the Hennepin County Home School.

Payne graduated from St. Olaf College with an undergraduate degree in Social Work and American Racial and Multicultural Studies. She has recently completed her Masters degree in Social Work with an emphasis in Adolescents and Families from the University of Minnesota School Of Social Work.

Administrative  Support

Candace Harpole
charpole@afadopt.org
Harpole is AAAA's executive assistant.  She has fourteen years of administrative experience.

Sylicia Chapman
schapman@afadopt.org
Chapman is AAAA's program assistant.  She has over fifteen years of administrative experience.