How Brazil became the #1 U.S. adoption program: A journey of purpose, persistence, and impact
The story of my work in international adoption began with a search for purpose. After graduating from law school in Brazil, I spent years as in-house counsel at a major bank. Despite the stability, I knew the corporate world wasn’t where I belonged. With my family’s support, I quit my job, left Brazil, and moved to the U.S. determined to find meaningful work, to use my legal skills for making the world a better place.
Everything changed the day an immigration attorney I was working with handed me The International Adoptions Sourcebook. I read it in one night and felt an immediate calling. I began searching for an agency whose mission aligned with mine and found Hand In Hand — a small website, but full of heart. I emailed, and MaryLee, the founder and CEO, replied right away. We met in Tampa in March 2013, and from our first conversation, it was clear our connection was bigger than a simple professional inquiry. She had spent her life advocating for parentless children; I wanted to build something for Brazil’s most vulnerable children. Our missions aligned instantly.
Determined effort secures Brazil accreditation
What began as a conversation became a two-year journey of advocacy, government engagement, and unwavering persistence. People told me repeatedly that the Brazilian government had rejected American agencies for over a decade and that I would fail. But I never doubted. I scheduled meetings in Brasília, lobbied at the Ministry of Human Rights, and explained the impact Hand In Hand could bring to Brazilian children waiting for families.
In January 2015, Brazil accredited just four U.S. agencies — and Hand In Hand was one of them.
A program that changed lives
From there, the real work began. Over the years, we placed roughly 100 children into permanent, loving families, and the Brazil program became the #1 adoption program between the U.S. and Brazil. But the journey also humbled me. When I entered this field, I didn’t yet understand the layers of trauma, identity, resilience, and complexity that adoption carries. Families have to pivot many times; love alone is not enough, but commitment, support, and community can be transformative.
I have walked alongside these families through challenges, breakthroughs, grief, and joy — hand in hand. I still don’t have all the answers, and no one in this field ever will. But I am certain of this: every single child placed through this program is better off today than they would have been if they had remained in the system in Brazil.
This work is generational. Breaking cycles of poverty, institutionalization, and trauma takes time. These children and their families are warriors, teaching me every day that purpose is not found — it is built, step by step, through service.
The foundation of Do Good Law
This journey became the cornerstone of my legal career. It taught me how to navigate complex international frameworks, build ethical systems to protect vulnerable people, and stand alongside families as they moved through uncertainty, trauma, resilience, and healing. It taught me how to design cross-border governance from the ground up — not as an academic exercise, but as a lived necessity for real children and real families.
Do Good Law was born from this experience.
This program didn’t just shape my career. It shaped who I am, and it continues to guide every client relationship, policy, and system I help create today.