Trustees

The Adoption Option Trust has four Trustees.

Sue Kingham - Chairperson.    Sue’s degree was in graphic design and she worked as a designer for five years. She then qualified with a postgraduate diploma in Marketing and worked in educational marketing in the UK for three years. Her final job in the UK was as a charity fundraiser for The Children’s Society with responsibility for the county of Hertfordshire’s fundraising. On moving to New Zealand in the year 2000 she worked as an artist for two years. Sue then accepted employment by Villa Maria College in Christchurch as their Development Officer with responsibilities for Marketing and PR. Sue and her husband, Simon, have two children who were adopted in New Zealand. Both children have open adoptions and see their birth families regularly.

Dr Hilary Cleland.   Hilary graduated from medical school in 1987 and decided to become a GP as she had a special interest in child and family health. She worked as GP for 12 years.  Currently she is taking a career break to raise her two pre-schoolers. Hilary is passionate about working in areas that give children the best possible start in life and for that reason she is involved with the Adoption Option Trust as she believes mental, physical and emotional health starts early in life.

Dr Simon Kingham.   Simon works in the Department of Geography at the University of Canterbury. While now involved in the Adoption Option Trust, he has previously devoted much of his spare time and energy in Youth work here in NZ and previously in the UK. Any problems with the content of the website, blame him!

Janine Holland. Janine has been working in public relations for a decade and her experience includes environmental, tourism and government communications and publicity and media work for a range of private enterprises and community organisations. Previous to PR, Janine worked as a trained journalist in Auckland, Kaikoura and Blenheim. Janine is the mother of two boys and was adopted in the 1970s under a closed adoption. She has met both birthparents and feels fortunate to have been given the opportunity to learn more about her beginnings and to develop relationships with both birth families. She supports the concept of open adoption as it provides a loving environment for a child to grow up in, yet still gives an adopted child the chance to know and understand their birth parents - which she believes is crucial for the development of identity.

 The founding Trustees with Liam Messam (back left to right, Sue and former-Trustee Larena Brown; front left to right, Liam and Hilary