Our Adoption Team
Physicians
The Adoption Clinic is staffed with professionals who have a love for children who have been orphaned and a desire to see them accepted into loving and well-equipped families. Most of us have worked in orphanages, adoption agencies, participated in foreign missions or have personal adoption experiences. We provide comprehensive interdisciplinary services including: pediatric medicine, pediatric nursing, developmental therapy, occupational therapy and family therapy. We also collaborate with multiple subspecialist in the pre and post adoption process to provide the most comprehensive care available to our families.
Jennifer Chambers, MD, MPH & TM
Pediatrician
Dr. Chambers is a board certified general pediatrician with a faculty appointment at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in the division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree at Furman University and her M.D. and Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University. She received her post-graduate training in pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she also completed a fellowship in General Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.
Besides her clinical and teaching roles at UAB, she is also the founder of The Adoption Clinic. Dr. Chambers has had decades of experience evaluating and treating internationally adopted children. In addition, she has completed many mission trips overseas to work in developing countries. She and her husband have 3 daughters adopted from China. This gives Dr. Chambers the unique perspective of both the personal and professional perspectives of international adoption and what it means to families and to children.
Carin Richard Kiser, MD, Director of TAC
Pediatrician
Dr. Carin Richard Kiser is a Board Certified Pediatrician who earned her medical degree from the University of Alabama in Birmingham. She did her residency training in General Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Alabama. She is a TBRI Practitioner having been trained at the Karyn Purvis Institute at Texas Children’s University. She has served the medical needs of adopted/fostered children as a pediatrician at The Adoption Clinic since 2006 and became the Medical Director in 2012.
Dr Kiser has a heart for orphans and has been to numerous orphanages around the world including China, Honduras, Africa and Ukraine. She has worked with children of early neglect/trauma for over a decade, and understands the long term effects of this early life stress on physical, social and emotional development. She has had training and years of experience with children who have been exposed to drugs/alcohol in utero and also worked for years in a multi-disciplinary clinic for children born prematurely.
Dr Kiser has also has also earned a ministry certificate from Highlands College in Birmingham, AL. She is very active in her church community where she serves as the Women’s team coordinator. Dr Kiser is married with 3 amazing children, one with special needs. Her passion is to help children heal and thrive through the power of love and connection.
The Developmental Specialist
Our therapist will perform a comprehensive developmental assessment on your child to determine if your child is progressing at an appropriate rate as compared to the typical internationally adopted child. She will determine if and when your child needs extra support to accomplish developmental milestones, speech needs and/or scholastic placement.
Due to the unique needs of adopted children, is often difficult to decide what therapy or educational setting is best for your child. The developmental specialist will help you sort this out. She serves as an educator (on adoption) for therapists and teachers that may take part in your child’s care. She is also available to help with Individual Educational Programs should they be necessary. Language and cognitive skills are screened and additional therapy referrals are made when necessary.
Amy Elmore, BS, OTR/L
Occupational Therapist, Developmental Therapist
Amy graduated from Medical University of South Carolina in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy. Since then she has worked in many pediatric settings including school systems, early intervention, hospitals and private practice. She has taught at the academic level for occupational therapist assistants, early intervention programs and speech therapy programs.
She came to Birmingham from Dothan, Alabama in 1999 to pursue her interests in sensory integration and feeding therapies. She is certified in Sensory Integration Therapy and Therapeutic Listening. She has been with the Adoption Clinic since 2005 and she is involved with evaluations, treating and teaching parents about the developmental needs of their children.
Amy will perform a comprehensive developmental assessment on your child to determine if your child is progressing at an appropriate rate as compared to the typical internationally adopted child. She will determine if and when your child needs extra support to accomplish developmental milestones, speech needs and/or scholastic placement.
Due to the unique needs of adopted children, is often difficult to decide what therapy or educational setting is best for your child. The developmental specialist will help you sort this out. She serves as an educator (on adoption) for therapists and teachers that may take part in your child’s care. She is also available to help with Individual Educational Programs should they be necessary. Language and cognitive skills are screened and additional therapy referrals are made when necessary.
The Family Therapist/Adoption Social Worker
Our therapist will assess your child for behavioral/emotional/attachment concerns that are frequently experienced post adoption. She can also help parents see which behaviors are appropriate for your child’s age/stage of development and how adoption-related issues may begin to integrate into your child’s emotional/social development.
She will give you recommendations on handling emotional issues the child may be facing as well as make referrals to local counselors when appropriate. She may also provide education on adoption to the schools and therapists who take part in your child’s care.
Heather Schuck, LICSW, PIP
Family Therapist and Social Worker
Heather Schuck is a Licensed, Board Certified Clinical Social Worker in the state of Alabama. She graduated from Southeastern Bible College with an undergraduate degree in Counseling and Biblical Studies. She also has a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Alabama.
Heather has worked in areas relating to child and family issues and adoption for many years and has been with the clinic as the family therapist since 2016. Heather has also been involved in program development of international adoption processes and post adoption counseling for families struggling with a variety of issues once home.
Adoption is not only a professional interest but a personal one to Heather. Her love for adoption started at an early age when she saw from her own personal experience how life changing a loving home could be. Since then, Heather's passion for adoption has only grown through her work in missions, interactions with orphanages, and her experiences working in a local adoption agency. In 2013 Heather and her husband had the opportunity to adopt their first child from Hungary. Since that time they have also had a biological son.
In her work at the Adoption Clinic, Heather educates families pre and post adoption to promote healthy attachment and adjustment, assesses needs for post adoption, assists with therapeutic interventions to improve attachment and decrease trauma, provides counseling and support for specific emotional needs, and provides crisis intervention. She has received her Foundational Certification in Theraplay, is level 2 trained in Theraplay using these principles in her therapeutic practice, is a TBRI practitioner, and has training in EMDR and DDP. She looks forward to meeting you and helping you in any way that she can in your own experiences with the adoption journey!
Our physicians and our family therapist are all certified TBRI Practitioners. TBRI Practitioners are skilled in “trust-based relational intervention.” TBRI is a type of intervention specifically designed for caring for children and families impacted by trauma. TBRI is developed and taught at Texas Christian University. To view more information about TBRI training please visit this website below.
