Sandra “Sandi” Caesar is an adoptee and, for many years worked as an adoption professional. She was born Cristina Rodriguez in Panama to a 14-year-old girl who parented her for most of her 1st year. Ultimately, she was placed for adoption by her maternal grandmother without the knowledge or consent of her birth mother. Sandi was adopted by a Black US Air Force family stationed in Panama at the time. Sandi was naturalized as a US citizen at age 2 and moved to Dayton, Ohio at 3 years old. Sandi has been reunited with her birthmother and maternal family in Panama since 2004. Sandi holds a B.S. degree in Human Development from Howard University and an M.S.W. from Indiana University. Like many people in social work, Sandi has found parallels between the work she was drawn to and her personal life – finding answers to many of her own life questions while working with people who are often at their most vulnerable. Sandi is excited to share her own evolution of thought, insights, and experiences working in foster care and adoption as an adoptee with you.

About Sandi
Sandi began her career in 1992 as a case manager at a neighborhood mental health center in Cleveland, then followed a co-worker from that agency to Harambee: Services for Black Families as an adoption social worker. It was her supervisor at Harambee who suggested she get involved with Adoption Network Cleveland (ANC). So, Sandi was introduced to ANC as a professional but remained involved as an adoptee. Sandi worked in adoption for four years before becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom with her 2 sons. She returned to work outside of the home in 2006 with the Indiana Department of Child Services where she remained for almost 12 years, working in foster care licensing, and serving as the state’s Adoption Manager for her last 6 years. In August 2020, in the middle of a pandemic, Sandi moved to Virginia accepting a position as supervisor with a foster care agency for 2 years. In this role she really began to see this work was taking a toll on her and common practices conflicted with her own beliefs on what was best for children.