Meet Our Staff
Jan Druckenmiller - Executive Administrator - MS, Child Care Administration
Jan Druckenmiller was born and raised in Mandan, North Dakota and ventured to the neighboring state of Montana to attend college at Montana State University. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Family Life Sciences and Child Development in 1974. During the last semester of college, she began dating Craig Druckenmiller who happened to be in the same curriculum and classes. Craig and Jan were married in August after completing their final needed credits during summer school. They moved away briefly to Lincoln, Nebraska after graduation but soon returned to Bozeman as they missed the mountains. In 1975, they started Pooh Corner Child Care which later became Southwood Child and Family Education Center. Wanting to further her education and be better equipped for the work she was doing, Jan earned a Master's Degree in Child Care Administration in 1980.
After 22 years of growing and administrating the early childhood program, Craig and Jan turned their hearts towards a more needy population of the world's children - those without families. They founded The Sacred Portion Children's Outreach in 1998, a non-profit ministry to orphaned and abandoned children. They began traveling to the Philippines, becoming involved with several different orphanages there. Jan was able to continue using her early childhood background in developing onsite preschool programs at these orphanages and also became involved in the administration. She continues to marvel at the way that God responded to the desires of her heart and provided an opportunity for her to use her skills in an orphanage environment. In addition to orphanage work overseas, Jan has become very involved in adoption work on the home front. The Sacred Portion Children's Outreach became licensed as a child placing agency with the state of Montana in 2006 and was granted Hague accreditation in 2012. Although not a social worker, Jan has learned lots regarding the world of adoption, including the importance of providing post adoption support to families.
Jan's work on behalf of orphans has been all consuming at both a professional and personal level. She is mother to one biological son and five adopted daughters, bringing a wealth of first-hand experience to what she does.
Corina Paszkiet - Assistant Director and Philippine Adoption Program Coordinator
Although raised in Sheridan, WY, Corina and her husband, John, have called Bozeman home since 2000. She graduated from Montana State University with a bachelor’s in psychology in 2005. Bozeman is a beautiful community, and she loves the outdoor opportunities that are so abundant like skiing and hiking.
Corina has always had a heart for adoption and knew early on that she not only wanted to adopt, but desired to work in some way with the adoption community. Corina has always firmly believed that God builds families very specifically and when they were diagnosed with infertility, it was clear their route to a family would be adoption. Corina has a great deal of adoption within her family of origin including several siblings, nieces, and nephews so it was an easy decision. They welcomed their son through domestic adoption in 2012 and their daughter in 2014. Corina will still tell you that one of the best parts of the process was, HopeFull Connections Adoption Services completing their home studies!
Corina and her husband jointly home school their children and love the freedom this allows for travel and exploring the world. She works closely with her church, volunteers with a community support non-profit, and is on the board of a non-profit that provides post adoption support to families. She loves being part of building families through adoption and feels blessed that God has given her such phenomenal opportunities to do so.
Jesse Littman - Social Worker and Colombia Adoption Program Coordinator
Jesse Littman is our new Social Worker and Colombia Adoption Program Coordinator. She began working for Sacred Portion in December 2020 and she is a great addition to our adoption team.
Jesse was born in the Bay Area in California and moved to Montana in 2015 to attend graduate school at the University of Montana. Jesse graduated with her Master of Social Work in 2018 and worked with refugees as a Caseworker and Immigration Legal Representative until the fall of 2020 when she moved to Bozeman, MT. Jesse has a deep love and appreciation for different cultures and people and is to excited to accompany families through the challenging and hopeful process of adoption. When not traversing the state completing home studies, Jesse enjoys traveling, cooking and exploring Montana’s wilderness with her dog, Luna.
Gail Heaton - Adoption Case Worker
Gail Heaton was born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas and lived in the south until a 1999 move to beautiful Montana, where she remains a proud resident. She loves reading research books in her leisure time, as well as hiking around Missoula with her husband as he photographs Montana's beauty, playing with her granddaughter, and enjoying the wonderful life God has given her with family and friends. She has seven children, now all adults. She graduated from Tulsa University in 1987 with a Bachelor Degree of Arts in Communication with an emphasis in organizational cultures and minor in psychology. Since a young child, Gail has wanted to pursue child psychology professionally, but life took her in a different direction. She has worked as a corporate trainer, a paralegal in family law, 25 years as a home educator, and a homeschool support resource specialist. Her journey into the adoption field began when their family decided to adopt twin boys, age 6, from Russia, in 2005, through Sacred Portion's summer hosting program.
As part of her pre-adoption training, she learned about how early adverse experiences in childhood can have long-lasting impacts on later development, so she trained in this area to ensure their sons would have supports in their lives as they developed and grew. This led to becoming professionally trained as a Circle of Security Parenting facilitator and a Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) practitioner. In August of 2018 she earned her Master's degree in Family Science from Concordia University, St. Paul, a dream of hers to bring more training and education to the ministry she founded, The Connecting Space, which supports foster and adoptive parents. Her greatest professional desire is to bring the message of the Gospel, through the biblical scriptures, into the latest neuroscience research on early trauma and loss in children, in order to support families to honor God as they create positive and lasting connections to each other, and experience His healing power. Working with SPCO now is a beautiful 'coming home' for her as she uses the training and experiences she first gained to help her sons and she now brings that same hope to other families just like hers.
Mackenzie Sage - Administrative Assistant and Fundraising Coordinator
Mackenzie grew up a Bozeman native with all of her family close by. She considers Bozeman a wonderful place that will always have a special place in her heart. Mackenzie got married in July 2019 to her best friend Casey and they are enjoying life’s adventures together. However, most of her time goes towards studying. She is currently a Senior at MSU working towards her degree in Human Development and Family Science with a minor in Personal Finance. With her degree, she hopes to walk alongside birth mothers who choose to place their babies for adoption. Mackenzie believes God loves all people, even if they are unborn, and has a special plan for every single baby. Her passion is putting families together the same way God has adopted us into His family. Mackenzie is so excited to be working with The Sacred Portion Children’s Outreach and learning about adoptions from real life experiences.
Renée Jackson - Home Study Writer/Editor
Renée is a Montana native and happily settled here, though her and her husband’s families both have many of their roots in California. She studied Christian Education at Whitefield College of Florida, became certified as a Natural Foods Chef at Nutrition Therapy Institute in Colorado, and has spent the past years working for several small businesses and households in southwest Montana. Renée came to HopeFull Connections in 2020 to be the writer of adoptive home studies. While most of her writing has centered on culinary education, two of her other passions are children and international cultures—thus writing for HopeFull Connections is a great fit.
Renée has had experiences with adoption via the families of numerous close friends and is thankful for the rewarding opportunity of assisting the clients of HopeFull Connections. She is glad to be on a team of lovely ladies all working diligently to bridge host children to welcoming families. She loves considering the beautiful people and places God has made in every corner of the earth, and loves being a small part of the wonderful work that God continues to do in the world. Renée likes to pray for each family for whom she writes home studies and hopes to be a helpful part of their adoption process. When not writing or cooking, Renée enjoys hiking, hospitality, and traveling with her husband Ryan.
Next page: Hague Accreditation
