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DEBRA M. FOX founded her law practice in 1986. Her practice consists of cases related to domestic adoption, interstate adoption, inter-country adoption, assisted reproduction, special needs adoption, contested adoption, adoption mediation, and grandparent representation. Ms. Fox is also the founder and director of Transitions Adoption Agency, Inc., a licensed Pennsylvania adoption agency. She has been a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys since 1992. Ms. Fox worked on civil rights issues related to adoption with the Women's Law Project, and the Perinatal Social Work Network. She has lectured on adoption issues at the Resolve Conference, University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia Bar Association Bench Bar Conference, the Montgomery County Bar Association, Elizabeth Blackwell Center, Choice Women's Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, and various community organizations. She previously served as a court appointed divorce master, and mediator in landlord/tenant and small claims court. Ms. Fox was a guest speaker on the subject of "transracial adoption" on WHYY's Radio Times. She has handled more than 1000 private adoption, agency adoption and interstate adoption cases. DEBORAH E. SPIVACK is an attorney who devotes her practice exclusively to adoption and family building in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Her clients include adoptive parents, biological parents, agencies and children in domestic, private, agency, step-parent, second parent, foreign re-adoption, and guardianship cases. Ms. Spivack also provides legal, policy and strategic consulting services to adoption agencies, both domestic and international. Her professional goal is to enable prospective parents to come together with children who need families, and to keep the doors to adoption open and accessible to families who desire to come together. She has worked with dozens of agencies in pursuing accreditation under the Hague Convention, and has written numerous materials to assist client agencies bring their policies, procedures and contracts into compliance with the Hague regulations. Ms. Spivack is also a published author and frequent speaker on adoption topics to diverse audiences such as adoption parents, agency staff, adoption attorneys, and judges. She has also held leadership roles in organizations that promote ethical practice and ensure that adoption policy serves the interests of children worldwide. Ms. Spivack graduated with a B.S. degree in business from Penn State University and a J.D. degree, cum laude, from Widener University School of Law in 1993, where she was a member of the law review, The Delaware Journal of Corporate Law. Following graduation, she worked as a judicial law clerk in federal bankruptcy court and, thereafter, as a corporate bankruptcy and restructuring attorney for a large firm in Wilmington, Delaware. Ms. Spivack is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. She has been working as a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys since 2008.SAMUEL C. TOTARO JR. is a partner in the Doylestown firm of Mellon Webster & Shelly, PC. Mr. Totaro received his B.S. degree from Ursinus College and his J.D. degree from the University of Memphis. He has been in practice since 1975. During his career, Mr. Totaro has been involved in more than 3500 adoptions, representing agencies, birth parents and adoptive parents. He is a member of the Bucks County Bar Association and has served as a member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Totaro has served as an advisor to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws Drafting Committee on the Uniform Adoption Act from 1989 to 1994 and was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 as an advisor to a Special White House Task Force on Adoption. He served on the Board of Directors of the National Council for Adoption, Washington, D.C. and is past president of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. He has received the Distinguished Service Award from both the National Council for Adoption and the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. In 2005, he received the United States Congressional Angel in Adoption Award.
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