Staff

At HFIC we are proud to have a very experienced and professional staff available to you throughout the process. With compassion and respect, we will consistently guide you through your unique adoption path.

Dr. Natasha Shaginian-Needham
Executive Director and Co-Founder

Dr. Shaginian-Needham completed her residency in Psychiatry at the Medical School in Moscow. Her extensive background in working with Russian orphanages since 1992 led her from translating medical reports to finding medical help and homes for children with special needs. By incorporating as a non-profit, New York State adoption agency, Dr. Shaginian-Needham is further able to see her hopes and dreams for orphaned children come true. Dr. Shaginian-Needham has excellent contacts and is well respected in the countries she works in. Due to her compassion, skill, and clear vision, the families of HFIC benefit from an international adoption experience that is successful and able to meet their individual needs.

Daniel Needham, BS, MBA
Financial Director and Co-Founder

Dan has been with HFIC since it's incorporation in 1994. Through the years, he has witnessed the agency grow from several adoptions per year to approximately 60 per year. He is dedicated to helping change the lives of children and families through international adoption. He knows that the children that have been adopted by their forever families, now have a chance a new life and our families have the children that they have waited so long for. It is a win-win situation in his mind's eye. Dan is responsible for the general business management of this adoption agency and promoting it's mission of helping children. For him, it is the most rewarding work he has ever done and he looks forward to continuing to help children find their forever families.

Helen Ryzy
International Program Director

Helen came to the U.S. from Belarus in the spring of 1997 when she was involved with a mission to raise money for children of the Chernobyl disaster. She became involved with HFIC soon afterwards by volunteering to translate for children from one of our annual Russian Children's Folk Festivals. Since then, her role at HFIC has grown tremendously, and now as our International Program Director, she has proven herself to be an extraordinarily talented leader, assisting so many of our families with professionalism, care and compassion while they are preparing for their adoption. Additionally, Helen has been extensively involved with, and largely responsible for the successes of this past years Russian Children's Folk Festival, HFIC's Holiday Party and of the tour of the Belarus Choir from Minsk. She is a graduate of Fordham University and now works in our Cold Spring office. We hope that when you contact our office or attend one of our seminars and speak with her, you will see why we are so happy to have Helen on our staff.

Jaime Smith
Kazakhstan Adoption Coordinator

Jaime attended Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, Marshall University in Huntington, WV and graduated with a Bachelors degree in Interior Design from West Virginia University in 1999. She joined our staff as a Regional Adoption Coordinator in the West Virginia area in July 2007 and in December 2007 became our full time Kazakhstan Program Director. Having gone through our program for the adoption of her daughter from Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2006, she is understanding, compassionate, and dedicated to help unite orphaned children with their forever family. She will be able to support and guide you from the moment you decide to take that first step towards your journey of a lifetime to the day you arrive home with your child, and beyond.

Alexis Fry
Office Manager

We are very pleased to have Alexis on our staff of professionals in our Main Office. Alexis has been instrumental in keeping pace with our growth during the past few years. Working closely with all of our coordinators, she has done an exceptional job of maintaining order and efficiency in our office environment. She has been involved in organizing many of our activities as well as developing new systems to streamline your adoption process. She is an important member of our staff of dedicated and experienced staff and we are very pleased she is a part of our staff!

Aggie Anderson
Post-Placement Coordinator

Agnes has been one of Happy Families most important staff members for quite a number of years. She has been instrumental in ensuring the Post-Placement services are administered in accordance with the requirements of the countries of adoption in a timely and efficient manner. As our Post-Placement Coordinator, she maintains contact with our returning families and guides them through the post adoption requirements and assists them with re-adoption procedures, as well as providing information to families as the needed in a very professional and caring manner. We are all very grateful for having Agnes on our staff. When you return with your child or children, you too will see why she is such a wonderful and important member of our team!

Joyce Smith
Regional Program Coordinator

We are happy to announce that Joyce will be our Regional Coordinator in the Connecticut area. Being an adoptive parent of several children from Russia herself, she is uniquely qualified for helping you through your adoption process and understanding questions and concerns. Joyce has been instrumental at organizing the activities and the fundraising for the last several summer Russian Children's Folk Festivals. She has also hosted children and officials from these festivals and organized other activities for them in between concerts. We welcome Joyce to our team of caring and compassionate regional coordinators!

Sandy Deede
Regional Program Coordinator

Sandy has joined our staff of caring and professional Regional Coordinators. Being an adoptive parent of two children from Russia, she is especially qualified to assist families through their adoption process with her knowledge and expertise. Having gone through our program, she is able to understand your cares and concerns in a very special way, and she will be able to support and guide you from the moment you decide to take that first step towards your international adoption to the day you arrive home with your child, and beyond. Sandy has been involved in our summer Russian Children's Folk Festivals, fundraising, organizing events and hosting some of the children. We are very pleased to have Sandy as one of our regional coordinators right here in the Hudson Valley and look forward to having her with us for a very long time!

Regina Boscia
Business Manager

We are happy to have Regina on our staff of professionals in our Cold Spring office. Regina has recently come to us to assist in managing the records of our families as well as the business and financial aspects of the agency. Regina has been instrumental in the preparation of our financial statements and has made suggestions which have been used to simplify our record keeping. She is very dedicated to our mission and we are very glad to have her with us.

The HFIC staff works in contract with professional, experienced social workers, therapists, adoption coordinators, facilitators and assistants throughout the United States. If at any time, you need to contact a professional, we would be happy to put you in touch with someone in your area.

Happy Families International Center, Inc.
3 Stone Street, Cold Spring, NY 10516
Phone: 845-265-9272
Fax: (845) 265-4731
Email: HFICkids@aol.com