Amara

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Founded in 1921 and based in Washington State, Amara is a nonprofit organization that supports children in foster care, adoptees, and their families.

Amara is dedicated to doing this work with passion, a commitment to equity for all people, creativity, and compassion.

As an open and affirming foster care organization, Amara is proud to work with—and actively seek--all families inclusive of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, race, ethnicity, religion, and marital status.

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Proud leader supporting LGBTQ foster and adoptive families in western Washington state.

Our Services

Foster Care Services: We recruit, license, and support foster families to care for children for as long as each child needs.
Family Time Program: We help children in foster care stay connected to their parent(s) and family with family-friendly visitation services.
Emergency Sanctuary Program: We offer a soft-landing for children entering foster care, where they can stay for up to five days while the state determines longer-terms placement plans. During this time, the children are supported by staff and volunteers trained in healing-centered practice.

Post Adoption Program: These services provide support to adopted people and their adoptive and birth families through resources, workshops, and support groups.
Best for Babies: We partner with Pierce County Superior Court to support parents and families working towards reunification with their children who are in foster or kinship placements.

Our Key People

Trey Rabun, Associate Director of Kinship and Community Services

Trey graduated with his Master's in Social Work from the University of Washington in 2011 and soon after begun his career at Amara. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Hampton University and a master’s degree in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of Illinois. Trey has held several positions at Amara doing direct service, outreach, and now program development and management. Personally, Trey and his husband were foster parents for four years and have a 5-year-old adopted son.

Kari Hanson-Family Outreach Coordinator

As the Family Outreach Coordinator, Kari Hanson works with families and individuals interested in becoming foster parents. She answers questions, has one-on-one meetings, and leads Amara’s Information Meeting three times a month. Kari has worked in nonprofits in Seattle for the past 20 years and is also an Amara alumni family. She and her husband were foster parents for five years, and the youngest of their two sons was adopted through foster care. When she’s not working you can find Kari crocheting, sewing, or taking her basset hound Baxter, on very, very slow walks.

Nicole Mazen, Director of Foster Care Services

Nicole is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who has been working at Amara since 2015. She has held multiple roles including Foster Care Specialist, Supervisor, and Director of Foster Care Services. In her current role, she leads a team of specialists who support families throughout the foster care experience, including licensing, caregiving support, and family visitation.

Angela Tucker, Director of Post Adoption Services

Angela Tucker is an internationally recognized speaker on issues of race, identity and inclusion. She was adopted from foster-care and adopted by white parents. At the age of 26, she found her biological parents, which she shared publicly in CLOSURE, an intimate documentary that was available on Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime. She is leading innovative projects as the Director of Post-Adoption services at Amara, while mentoring transracially adopted youth through The Adopted Life, a company she founded in 2017.