Our Team

Kara is the Founder and Executive Director of The Adoptee Collective. She practices Neurofeedback and is a TBRI® Practitioner with Kids Alive International. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, she is also completing her Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. Relinquished at birth and adopted in a same-race, domestic adoption in the U.S., Kara is passionate about helping adoptees live with a deep sense of felt safety—despite the impacts of early separation and the dominant societal narratives that often shape adoption.

She hopes that prospective adoptive parents, caregivers, and clinicians will become more adoptee-centered and trauma-informed by recognizing that being adopted comes with lifelong impact. A lot of adoptees deal with core issues like loss, rejection, shame and guilt, grief, identity, intimacy, and control (Silverstein & Roszia, 2019). These can show up as attachment struggles, anxiety, depression, fear, sensory sensitivities, attention issues, or even thoughts of suicide—sometimes even when adoption happened in infancy. Kara believes healing comes through therapeutic support, faith practice, connection with fellow adoptees, and the care of trusted adoptee allies. Everyone deserves to feel safe, supported, and like they truly belong.

Nicole Atherton serves as the U.S.-based representative for our sister non-profit organization, acting as a vital bridge between our stateside supporters and our work In Kenya. She works alongside her husband as the co-owner of Provision Homes, LLC, a home building company in Texas. With a Bachelor of Science in Politics she ran an office for a State Representative for 8 years. She is a homeschool mom to three boys ages 9, 5, and 3. She previously served on the board of The Adoptee Collective and has served in adoptee groups alongside Edna Gladney Children's home. 

Nicole has a passion to see adoptees, like herself, experience healthy thriving relationships. She has personally experienced the benefit of receiving counseling to work through her adoption story and now desires to help others adoptees receive that same help. 

Her personal connection to the cause, coupled with her dedication and professionalism, make her an invaluable advocate for our programs and the communities we serve.