Dawn Gallaway– Team Lead
Dawn has been married to David for 21 years. She and David are the parents of 6 children on earth and one in heaven. They have 3 biological children, Grant 20 is a sophomore at Drake University double majoring in Music performance and music education, Sydney 18 is a freshman at Oral Roberts University majoring in ministry and elementary education, and Chloe, who suffered from complications of prematurity and is now in heaven.
In 2018 they adopted a sibling set of 4 from foster care at the ages of 11, 10, 8, and 3. Now, Kain is 18 and a senior in high school, Korben is 17 and a junior in high school, Marlee is 15 and a freshman in high school, and Kaleb is 10 and a 4th grader.
Dawn has a BA in early childhood education, an MA in early childhood development, and is currently completing 45 hours of masters classes on trauma and special populations. When Dawn’s not working on some sort of craft project she’s playing with her dogs, singing, or traveling to have adventures with her family.
Jennifer Winters– Assistant Team Lead
Jennifer Winters is the mom to 7 kids. Her first bio son passed away at 22 hours old from a rare infection. Her next son is 33 & my daughter is 27. Her daughter is estranged from our entire immediate family & just had first grandbaby right before Christmas. She pretty much raised these two as a single mom.
She became a foster parent in 2008 & ended up adopted a sibling set of 4 (who arrived at 3 different times) as an infant & toddlers. They are now 14 (son), 17 (daughter) & 18/18 (identical twin daughters). Most of her journey has been fighting for them to get services & as much help she can find – live in the severe behavioral health & mental health world. She has a lot of experience with acute behavioral health hospitalizations, residential facilities & Children’s Division – both unwanted & requested.
She feels like God has called her to walk alongside & encourage other adoptive moms who are raising kids from hard places & with lots of diagnosis….ADHD, ODD, PTSD, DMDD, mood disorders, bi-polar, sociopath, anger issues & violence. She is excited to be allowed to serve moms at the Midwest STC retreats!”
Kari Hoagland– Liaison
As a young, single , brand new nurse, Kari became aware of fostering and the incredible need for it. At 20 years old she was blessed with my first foster daughter. She fostered for a few years as a single mom. And then met and married her biological children’s father and brought 3 amazing kids into the world. Unfortunately, she found myself single again 4 years later with full custody of the children. She had always talked about the babies she got to love before my children were born. Her children were always curious about babies that needed people to love them and care for them. It was at their urging and a clearly answered prayer that she decided to foster again. This time was different as she now had a career at the local Children’s Hospital. At that point, she decided to only care for medical infants. It was the best challenge ever! The 3 ‘originals’ – her bio kids took on all the challenges with her. Four years later, she was a single foster/adoptive/biological momma of 11.
Kari met her current husband, married him a year later and added t two teenage boys to her already big family. When the dust settled and adoptions were completed, she had a diverse family of 10.
She is still involved in the foster community and is blessed to care for one adopted and 1 foster infant that has truly become family.
Through all it all, her best friend has helped prepare her for the challenges of parenting the trauma seeped, neurological-spicy tweens that she parents.
She feels a prayer of hers has been answered as she now gets to serve fellow foster and adoptive moms.
Jackie Sherwood– Team Support
Jackie and her husband of 25 years, Roger, have three daughters and one granddaughter: Leyna (bio daughter) age 39, Logan (bio granddaughter) age 19, Ciara (adopted China 2009 at 2 1/2) age 17, and Charli, (adopted China 2013 at 4 1/2) age 15. They live on a farm in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania along with their four ankle biter dogs, 15 cows, eight pigs, chickens and whatever else lives in the swamp. She’s not sure how this whole “adoption” thing happened, but it all started when she was anonymously mailed a calendar in 2006 at work with the cutest little Asian babies on it, and it’s been a roller coaster ride ever since. She loves helping families bring their children home through fundraising auctions, donating, etc. She is a court stenographer by day, and by night enjoys all things crafty, and loves to travel. She can’t wait to see what the future holds for STC and her family! Ciara has been promising for years she wants to have ten kids bio and adopted!!
Seas The Connection 