About Us

We provide the resources you need.

Jennifer Kelly

Meet Jennifer Kelly

There is a need for adoption professionals and adoptive families and it’s necessary to have the resources for medically complex adoptions. In honor of her daughter Joy, Jennifer Kelly opened Adopting Joy Consulting in order to provide prospective adoptive families and adoption professionals with the resources they need to help medically complex children reach their fullest potential. She has the expertise and the resources to help others with the adoption process through Adopting Joy Consulting.

Before serving in the adoption community she worked in medicine, biotechnology, and teaching at the college level. She graduated with both a bachelor's and master's degree in Molecular Biology from Jacksonville State University. In 2015, in honor of her adopted daughter, Joy, Jennifer and another mother partnered together to open the country's only nationwide special needs adoption agency. Jennifer served as the Medical Director of that agency until 2021 before moving on to her new dream of Adopting Joy Consulting.

In Honor of Joy

Meet Our Board

Patti Smith

My husband and I own a hair salon in our local town. Adoption is very dear to our hearts and our families.

Our oldest child is adopted and he is our true miracle. I met Jennifer through a local moms group. I truly am so honored to be on the board and have the opportunity to serve.

Melisssa Young

Mrs. Melissa Young has 15 years of experience in creating proposals and contracts for Leidos. Prior to joining Leidos, she served more than 11 years in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Analyst.

Mrs. Young lives in Huntsville, AL and is married with three girls. She is passionate about finding a forever home for every child.

Mrs. Young holds a Master’s degree in Criminal Justice from New Charter University, Bachelor’s degree in Public Justice from Oswego State University, and an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Onondaga Community College. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with family and friends, kayaking, and crafting.

Jennifer Gerard

Jen and her daughter Tieghan started the food blog Half Baked Harvest in 2012. Throughout the busier months of the year, the site receives over a million visits a day and has an Instagram following of over 3 million.

Jen and her husband Conrad have eight children. They live in the mountains of Colorado where the entire family snowboards. Turns out that their son Red is actually a pretty darn good snowboarder. Their eighth child, Oslo, is adopted, which is how she came to be involved in Adopting Joy Consulting.

There is a loving home for every child...they just need to find each other!

Hunter Davis

Hunter Davis is a Family Medicine Physician with several years of experience working with all age groups. He graduated from Ross University School of Medicine in 2016. He then graduated from Emory Family Medicine Residency in 2019. Since that time, he has been practicing medicine in the Atlanta, Ga area.

When I think of Jennifer, I smile. Adoption can be very overwhelming in all the paperwork, different routes, each States protocols, and so on. Jennifer never left our side, each question we had she had an answer for- or had already completed it for us! We were very fortunate to cross paths with this talented, giving, kind woman.

Merritt Family