We strive to provide a compassionate choice for birthing mothers by bringing hope, love, and a safe and nurturing environment for children through adoption. We work to provide support services for families through preparation, education, guidance, and post-adoption services.
Meet the Ohala’ Team
Millie Nice
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Millie, brings a unique blend of professional expertise and personal experience to her role at Ohala Adoptions. As a stepmom and adoptive mother raising a Micronesian daughter on Guam, she understands firsthand the joys and challenges of creating a forever family through adoption.
With a PhD in Communication and Culture and an MS in Clinical Psychology, Millie finds her life purpose in supporting families and individuals in need. She is teaching currently at University of Guam and believes strongly in the power of education. Her experience as an entrepreneur and CEO in public relations and marketing, enhances her ability to advocate for the needs of children and families on Guam. Her vision for the agency is to provide compassionate, ethical, and culturally sensitive adoption services that honor the needs of birth parents, adoptive families, and most importantly, the children, while also working with the community to ensure ethical placements. Afterall, it takes a tribe to raise a child!
Millie believes in empowering individuals to make positive choices, especially in challenging circumstances. Her goal in Ohala is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home, while supporting birth parents through their decision-making process with respect and care, and providing counseling to those at risk for mental health challenges.
Joleen Baza
CO-DIRECTOR
Joleen is the Director of Blue Ocean Behavioral Health and is a board certified Licensed Professional Counselor. As a therapist, Joleen specializes in treatment of trauma and attachment wounds for adults and children that targets repatterning of the brain and nervous system. She has extensive experience and training in serving as a clinical expert to represent best interests of the child with court involved cases.
Prior to her practice as a therapist, Joleen was a Social Worker in public, private, and non-profit organizations- providing service through prevention and outreach, early childhood mental health and behavioral health integration consultation, assessment, intervention, resources and treatment to patients, their families, as well as inter-agency collaboration. Joleen has provided services to clients in all stages of life ranging from early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, working with nuero-diverse populations, severe cognitive, emotional, and behavioral disturbances.
Bella Fagota
SOCIAL WORKER
Isabella "Bella" Fagota is a dedicated social worker with a robust academic background, holding both a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Social Work. Bella's career spans a variety of impactful sectors, focusing on early childhood development and care, as well as adolescent prevention and treatment programs.
Her commitment to children and youth mental health has driven her to engage in research and data analysis, contributing to policy advocacy aimed at improving services and outcomes. Bella’s experience extends to geriatric and home health care services, where she has worked to enhance the quality of life for older adults.
Throughout her career, she has excelled in both non-profit and government environments, demonstrating a strong passion for community service and social justice. Bella continues to advocate for vulnerable populations, striving to create a more equitable and supportive society.
The Ohala’ Board of Directors
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Lori Boss
DIRECTOR
Lori has dedicated herself to working with families in need, specifically mothers and children. As a wife, mother of seven, and a grandmother to six, she understands the challenges and blessings of a forever family. From working as a certified birth doula, to opening her home as a foster parent for children in need, she has firsthand experience and expertise in assisting mothers and children during their most challenging times.
Lori believes that women should be empowered by positive choices especially when difficult circumstances arise, such as an unplanned pregnancy, and sees adoption as a selfless gift that a mother can give her child. Her desire to help the children and families on Guam has inspired her to join with equally dedicated women in forming this non-profit adoption service.
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Traci Anderson
DIRECTOR
Traci has had a lifelong love for babies and children. She spent several years as a nanny, provided Montessori education in a day care setting, is a mother of four, and was a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. All of these experiences have provided opportunities for her to gain a deeper understanding of the needs and support that children require in their growth and learning.
Traci has had the opportunity to obtain foster-to-adopt training, using it when she became a foster mom, adopting and raising an amazing boy. Knowing that adoption is an option and parenting is a joy, Traci will be able to guide mothers in distress to consider all choices before making any decisions. Helping babies and children to have safe and stable, happy homes is her primary goal.
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Kelley Larsen
DIRECTOR
Kelley is a wife, mother, and international adoptee. She has degrees in Therapeutic Recreation and Psychology, and has worked providing mental health treatment to clients of all ages in various clinical and residential settings; including managing the behavioral and emotional resources for infants and children in a crisis center. She also volunteers at her church in programs that serve women and children. For the past three years, she has acted as the executive director of an annual team-building and empowerment camp for girls ages 11-18 from Guam, Saipan, Yap, and Palau.
These experiences have underscored to her the importance of loving families and community-based support networks to individual wellness. Her vision for Ohala’ is one where the women, children, and families of our island can find loving and supportive options where the needs of each person are valued.
