Executive Team

Melissa Jenovai, Vice President of Child & Family Services

Melissa Jenovai

President/CEO
Joined the Agency 2/27/2006

Ms. Jenovai started her career in the child welfare field in May 2005 at the Agency as a Project Specialist under the National Resource Center for Adoption at Spaulding, previously having been at the agency as an intern beginning in 2004.  In 2006, she was hired as a Foster Care Case Manager, she was elevated to a Director’s position and on 1/3/2017 was promoted to the position of Vice President of Child and Family Services. She was promoted to the position of President/CEO as of 10/1/2022.  Her responsibilities are primarily to oversee the day-to-day operations of the agency. She has 16 years of experience in the child welfare field.

Kris Henneman, Vice President of the Spaulding Institute for Family and Community Development

Kris Henneman

Vice President of the Spaulding Institute for Family and Community Development
Joined the Agency 2/15/1999

Mr. Henneman joined Spaulding in 1999 and has worked to support families and communities for over 33 years, including experience in mental health and child welfare. He has been lead on numerous federal grants, including iCARE 365 – Diligent Recruitment, MiTeam Makes Great Families Project – Family Connections and the Infant Adoption Awareness program. He has provided training and technical assistance for the National Resource Center For Adoption and has been involved in developing national curriculums on resource family preparation and adoption. He has facilitated numerous organizational strategic planning meetings to improve organizational outcomes. Most recently he has developed online courses on Infant Adoption, Child Preparation, Post Adoption Services and Save Haven legislation. Mr. Henneman is a parent by birth and adoption.

Melinda Lis, Vice President of The Academy for Family Support and Preservation Joined the Agency 7/8/2013

Melinda Lis

Vice President of The Academy for Family Support and Preservation
Joined the Agency 7/8/2013

Melinda Lis started her career with Spaulding in July 2013 as the Director of the National Resource Center for Adoption. Once this grant concluded, Melinda became the Project Director for the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption/Guardianship Support and Preservation housed at Spaulding. Melinda has 20 years of child welfare experience including extensive project development and management on both a statewide and national level. She also has extensive experience developing curricula and training for foster/adoptive parents and child welfare staff. Melinda spent a good portion of her career working with the Illinois child welfare system. During her time in Illinois, she co-founded and managed a not-for-profit agency that assisted the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services with implementation and management of several statewide reforms. After leaving Illinois, Melinda consulted with organizations in New York, Washington D.C., and Florida. She also worked on a national evaluation of court improvement programs.

Doretha Morgan, Accounting Manager Joined the Agency 10/20/2014

Doretha Morgan

Vice President of Finance
Joined the Agency 10/20/2014

Ms. Morgan started working at Spaulding for Children October 2014. In October 2023 she was promoted to the Vice President of Finance.  She has more than 20 years’ experience in all aspects of financial operations and analysis, including grants management, budgeting, auditing and trending analysis. She has a Master of Finance Degree from Walsh College.

Kristina Vaseau, Foster Care Program Director Joined the Agency 11/6/2006

Kristina Vaseau

Vice President of Child & Family Services
Joined the Agency 11/6/2006

Ms. Vaseau was hired in 2006 as a foster care worker.  She was promoted in May of 2016 to Foster Care and Adoption Program Director.  Ms. Vaseau maintains the overall compliance of Foster Care, Licensing and Adoption.  She was promoted to the position of Vice President as of 10/1/2022.  Her responsibilities are primarily to oversee the day-to-day operations of the Child and Family Services department. She has worked in the child welfare field for 16 years.

Directors

Jamie Bozarth - HR Director at Spaulding for Children

Jamie Bozarth

Human Resource Director
Joined the Agency 12/1/1993

Ms. Bozarth has worked in the child welfare field for almost 30 years. Her career started and remained in the non-profit sector, specifically in child welfare. She worked in two child placing agencies in the metro Detroit area as a Licensing Worker before coming to Spaulding in 1993. She was hired as a Licensing/Intake Worker, promoted to a team leader position and then promoted as the Quality Improvement/Human Resource Director in 2001. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree from Calvin College and her Master’s Degree from Central Michigan University.

Kelly Burdell, Foster Care/Adoption Supervisor Joined the Agency 4/15/2013

Kelly Burdell

Program Director
Joined the Agency 4/15/2013

Ms. Burdell began at Spaulding for Children in September 2012 as an intern. She was hired as a Foster Care/Adoption Worker in April 2013 and remained in that position for 3 years. In May of 2016 she was promoted to Foster Care/Adoption Supervisor, a Program Manager in 2022, and the Child & Family Services Program Director in January 2024. Ms. Burdell earned her Bachelor degree from Tennessee State University and her Master degree from Wayne State University. She enjoys working in the child welfare field and seeing families thrive.

Leslie Cohen, Implementation Manager – QIC-AG Joined the Agency 10/3/2016

Leslie Cohen

Project Director
Joined the Agency 10/3/2016

Mrs. Cohen has over 25 years of experience in the field of child welfare. Her work has focused on program development, implementation, and evaluation for children residing in relative foster care and on foster children who have achieved permanence. As a Research Specialist at the Children and Family Research Center, Ms. Cohen focused on the implementation and evaluation of the Subsidized Guardianship Waiver Demonstrations in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Tennessee. Ms. Cohen’s work also focused on the evaluation of post-permanency issues in Illinois for children who were adopted or went to guardianship. As a Senior Research Specialist at James Bell Associates, Ms. Cohen served as a Site Lead and the Cross Site Implementation Evaluation Coordinator for the Children’s Bureau’s Permanency Innovations Initiative. As a consultant at the National Resource Center for Adoptions, Ms. Cohen provided technical assistance to states, tribes and territories that was geared toward developing organizational and service capacity to better address the needs of at-risk populations. Currently, Ms. Cohen serves as the Project Director for the Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation at Spaulding for Children.

Sue Cohick, CORE Project Director Joined the Agency 12/2016

Sue Cohick

Project Director
Joined the Agency 12/2016

Sue A. Cohick MSW LSW was hired by Spaulding for Children in November, 2016. She serves as the Project Director for The Critical Ongoing Resource family Education (CORE) grant, a 3 year Foster/Adoptive Parent Preparation, Training and Development Initiative grant from the Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The project will develop a state-of-the-art training program, equipping resource parents with skills necessary to meet the needs of older youth who have moderate to serious emotional and behavior health challenges.
Ms. Cohick has over 20 years of experience in child welfare related fields. She has served as the administrator for two county administered child protective service organizations, and as a senior member for a statewide non-profit organization providing training on best practice interventions in child welfare. She has also used her experience and knowledge to teach both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

Toni Ligon

Laureen Toni Ligon

MPLD Director
Joined the Agency 1/16/2024

Toni began her career at Spaulding in January 2024 as the Director of the Minority Professional Leadership Development (MPLD) Program.  Toni, a native of Connecticut, has 30 years-experience in the Child Welfare field with a focus on Kinship, Foster Care and Adoption. She started her career in 1994 at the State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families where she built solid and trusting relationships with adolescents, medically complex youth and their families, as well as foster, adoptive and kinship families.

Over the course of her profession, Toni has lent her time and energy mentoring and coaching emerging professionals within (and outside) the State of Connecticut Department of Children and Families. She has been a mentor for the Minority Professional Leadership Development Program twice.

Toni earned a B.S. Degree in Communications from Southern Connecticut State University, and an M.B.A. from the University of New Haven. She is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., a member of The Girl Friends, Inc., and an Associate and Lifetime Member of Jack and Jill of America, Inc.

A married mother of two adult children, she resides with her husband in West Haven, Connecticut.

Team Members

Kristina Borrego Photo

Kristina Borrego

IPP Supervisor
Joined the Agency 4/25/2016

Ms. Borrego began at Spaulding for Children as an Intern in 2016 and was hired as a Foster Care Specialist that same year. She was a Foster Care and Adoption Specialist for 5 years before she was promoted to an IPP Supervisor. Ms. Borrego earned her Bachelor degree from Eastern Michigan University in 2014 and earned her Master Degree from Wayne State University in 2017. She has a passion for helping people and working in the child welfare profession.

Lindsey Brock, Foster Care/Adoption Supervisor Joined the Agency 4/6/2015

Lindsey Brock

Program Manager
Joined the Agency 4/6/2015

Ms. Brock obtained her Bachelor’s degree from University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and her Master’s degree from Wayne State University. While participating in her graduate program, Lindsey interned with Spaulding for Children and was later hired in as a contingent Licensing Worker in February of 2015. Shortly after accepting the position, Lindsey was hired in full-time as a Foster Care/Adoption Worker. In February of 2017, Lindsey accepted the position of Intake/Generalist worker, was promoted to IPP Supervisor in August of 2019 and Program Manager in 2022.

Sharon Corpolongo, Office Manager Joined the Agency 4/9/2018

Sharon Corpolongo

Office Manager
Joined the Agency 4/9/2018

Mrs. Corpolongo started at Spaulding for Children in 2017 as a tempt, she was hired in 2018 as an Office Assistant with 32 years of experience in office work/office management after retiring from Dearborn Public Schools. She was promoted to Office Manager in September 2019.

Jaleise Hall

Jaleise Hall

Program Manager
Joined the Agency 9/25/2023

Ms. Hall began working at Spaulding for Children in February of 2022 as the Academy for Family Support and Preservation’s Project Specialist. Ms. Hall was originally stationed at our home office in Southfield, MI, but left to move to Chicago.  In September of 2023, she returned to the agency and was promoted to the Academy for Family Support and Preservation’s Program Manager position in October of 2023.

Ms. Hall earned her Bachelor’s degree at Columbia College Chicago in 2018 and went on to earn her Master’s from the Bren School at University of California: Santa Barbara in 2021 where she focused in Data Science.

Jennifer Land, Foster Care/Adoption Supervisor Joined the Agency 2/1/2011

Jennifer Land

IPP Supervisor
Joined the Agency 2/1/2011

Ms. Land began at Spaulding as adoption worker in 2011.  She has been in the child welfare field for 21 years, 15 of those years as a foster care/adoption supervisor.  In 2012, Ms. Land was promoted to a Foster Care/Adoption Supervisor and an IPP Supervisor in 2022.

Stacey Mason-Oakes, Resource Family Development Supervisor Joined the Agency 4/22/2002

Stacey Mason-Oakes

Program Manager
Joined the Agency 4/22/2002

Ms. Mason-Oakes began at Spaulding as a Foster Care Worker in 2002.  Prior to Spaulding she worked for Vista Maria and Evergreen Children’s Services.  She was promoted to the Resource Family Development Supervisor position in January 2017, an IPP Supervisor in 2022 and the Child & Family Services Program Manager in January 2024.  She enjoys working with the families and children who are a major part of the Spaulding for Children’s team.  Ms. Mason-Oakes has been in the child welfare field for more than 22 years

Michael Quinn, Network Administrator Joined the Agency 12/13/2004

Michael Quinn

Network Administrator
Joined the Agency 12/13/2004

Mr. Quinn has been managing the care of the computers at Spaulding since December 2004 and was promoted as the Network Administrator in 2013. He managed the care of the computers at two organizations before joining Spaulding. Mr. Quinn has worked in the computer field since December 1997. He not only responsible for the computers, servers, email, and Internet maintenance, he also does a lot of photo and video editing. He began video editing on 1987.