Board of Directors

Office Bearers

President: Dr Cas O'Neill
Cas O'Neill is the mother of three children, one of whom joined her family through a special needs adoption program. She has also been a respite foster carer for over 15 years. Cas is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Work, University of Melbourne and is a member of the Foster Care Association of Victoria.

Secretary: Chris Lockwood
Chris Lockwood is the father of two children adopted from China and Korea. He is a member and past Vice-President and Secretary of Families with Children from China - Australia (FCC), and is a member of the Korean Adoptive Families (KAF). Chris currently works in a project management role with the industry superannuation fund Cbus, with a focus on delivery improved member outcomes. Prior to that he worked for 10 years in a trade union performing a range of roles including management of contact centres and the oversight of an industrial advice help desk.

Treasurer: Charlie Salloum
Charlie Salloum is an adoptive father of two young Korean born children whose journey in the adoption world started in 2001. Charlie also sits on the Committee of Korean Adoptive Families - Han Ho Inc. He has a varied professional background including a short stint as a primary school teacher, a corporate trainer and HR professional and an owner/manager of a food manufacturing business.

Chairperson: Moira Schulze
Moira has in the past been a kinship carer and has worked in adult education and training for many years, firstly as a teacher and later as a senior manager and CEO. Moira currently serves on a number of boards including: RMIT University, the Victorian Board of Adult and Further Education, the TAFE Development Centre and Hanover Welfare Services. Moira also works as an independent consultant in education, training, management development and multicultural issues. Moira is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD) and a Victorian Fellow of the Institute of Public Affairs of Australia (FIPAA).

Board Members (in alphabetical order)

Dan Barron
Dan Barron is father of 3 children. For the past 8 years he has been a 'stay home dad' with two of his children, who both joined the family via Permanent Care. His work experience includes a number of support work positions in the fields of physical disability, intellectual disability, mental illness and young care-leavers, both in Australia and the UK. He came to Australia in 1995, and currently works part-time in a homelessness support service.

Emily Cheesman
Emily Cheesman is an adoptee from the Philippines. Emily has a legal and policy background, and has worked with a range of Aboriginal organisations, including the national NGO peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child and family services. Emily is currently working as a researcher at the University of Melbourne.

Jenny Conrick
Jenny Conrick is a social worker who practices primarily in the area of child and family welfare. Her clinical and management work has included adoption information, intercountry adoption and post natal depression services and she now works part time at the Royal Children’s Hospital while studying for her PhD. Her research looks at the experiences of adopted women as they parent their own children.

Christine Cook
Chris Cook is the adoptive mother of two Korean born daughters. She is a member of the Inter Country Adoption Resource Network (ICARN) Australia. Chris currently manages a Psychology practice in the north western area of Melbourne. Her earlier career included teaching in various secondary schools in the northern and western suburbs of Melbourne, which involved some years as an integration teacher working with students with a range of disabilities and backgrounds. She also spent some years working as a youth outreach worker, both in Britain and in the western suburbs of Melbourne.

Mandy Everton 

Anne Farrelly
Anne Farrelly is a mother of two children who were adopted from The Philippines. She has a number of years teaching experience in primary classrooms and special education. Anne has worked as a conciliator for the Energy Ombudsman. She is currently working as a research assistant and project manager at the University of Melbourne on projects relating to cultural diversity, parent/teacher relationships, leadership in education and children’s rights.

Amanda Stone
Amanda Stone has over 30 years experience in the education and counselling of secondary aged students and their families. Much of her counselling work has been with children in out of home care. She is currently working as an Education and Training Consultant and is also a Councillor in local government.

Judy Thompson